[IC] Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

[ultimate523]

Gorik felt incredibly strange as he moved around the college. There were many people near him, and he made sure to be incredibly vigilant of anything that could be a threat to him. He did his best not to be noticed, something that wasn't particularly easy with his height, and overall size.

After a little while he made his way toward the Dining Hall as had been suggested. Some of the other students made attempts to speak to him, but realised relatively quickly that it may not have been the best idea, his nervousness being quite obvious. He had felt quite hungry for a while, but the fear had caused his stomach to hurt quite a lot, and he wasn't sure how much he could trust the food either, causing him to only take a few bites.

Later on he watched as the Headmaster spoke, doing his best to be away from it, knowing that most of the other students would likely want to move toward the speaking. Not long after, two of the teachers moved forward, and shortly after, he saw the display of electromancy. He cringed at the sound of it, causing him to shake before his eyes focused on the energy that had been placed at the roof, a feeling of awe coming over him, but causing his fear to grow even further. It was clear that the teachers, and likely several of the students could be far bigger threats to him than anyone he had ever met before.

It took Gorik a moment to realise that all the metal in the room had been raised slightly, and he looked around frantically, making sure not to be near any of it. He was quite glad about his lack of metal gear for a moment, but also very quickly realised how common weaponry seemed to be among the students, something that was far from comforting. Once everything fell back down, he continued to look around, especially at anyone nearby, though doing his best to seem very focused on the Headmaster, and teachers, not that he did a very good job of it.

[Sundered Echo]

Ponders

No-one else had come to speak with Ponders since the Foreas Coco had left. He was beginning to wonder if perhaps the students believed him to be one of the Colleges Golems. That, or they were afraid of him. He hoped that wasn’t the case, as he had no ill intentions. He had remained in the same place, continuing to watch the events with curiosity.

He had noticed that Coco had returned, and she was making her way around the room fairly quickly. He listened for her voice amidst the sea of noise, and with a few moments focus was able to pick out the distinctive tone. She was asking questions of a lot of people it seemed, not just him. He listened to the questions and the answers that were given to them, making use of her as a sort of free information gathering tool. Eventually however, she seemed to be accosted by a very loud, grating and obviously drunk woman. Ponders quickly noticed that the conversation didn’t go like Coco’s conversations normally seemed to, in fact, from what he could tell the woman seemed to have something against the Foreas. Or plants in general. That seemed strange to him, plants were such innocuous things. Why would one hate them?

Ponders attention was snapped suddenly back to reality when Coco seemed to threaten to call out for ‘Rocky’ the name she’d given him. His form moved subtly, shifting to a shape that could move quickly across the many beings in the room without interfering with them. A few moments later though, and it became evident that he would not be called to any action, a fact for which he was pleased.

A short time later, there was a rather unpleasant screech from the headmaster's chair, followed by his voice booming across the room, explaining that the demonstrations of the masters of each mageblood were about to begin. Ponders was quite looking forward to this, in fact, it was the main reason he was at this feast, given that he could not eat. He wasn’t just interested in Geomancy either, but all magebloods. He was here to learn of all that it meant to be mageblooded after all, and he would never let it be said that an Awakened Harmony was narrow minded in his learning.

He felt a slight awe at the sight of the controlled lightning flying high towards the roof, even as he watched the other students and noted the danger that that mageblood could be to him. he then noticed all the metallic objects floating upwards. This did not bother him, but he soon noticed that a few of the students themselves were floating upwards, clad in enough metal to be drawn up. The Red-headed elf he’d noticed before Coco had found him seemed to be having an interesting reaction. Her axe had rushed upwards first, and she was holding onto its haft with both hands, being lifted off the ground with it. Suddenly, her dagger shot out of its sheath and, to her credit, she was fast enough to catch its hilt. She seemed quite put out by the whole experience, struggling to pull the weapons down, vainly of course.

After a moment more, the dagger slipped from her grip and she was left hanging by one arm, spinning around a little as she did so. She seemed to catch sight of something, maybe one of the armoured students floating, and she started laughing. In that state, there was no way for her to retain her already tenuous hold on the axe, and she fell, rather suddenly and awkwardly. Luckily, she wasn’t very far off the ground at that point, and she seemed to land with more grace than one would expect, though certainly not perfectly. The Axe shot straight up once it was free of her weight before promptly falling down and embedding itself in the top of one of the large barrels next to her. Her dagger, however, had flown far across the room, landing in the end of the table closest to the teachers own table.

The elf rapidly climbed atop the barrel and pulled the axe out fairly elegantly, leaping down as if the distance were nothing. Then she cast about, looking for the dagger. Ponders considered pointing it out, but before he could come to a decision she had spotted it herself and was rushing across the room to retrieve it.

[Pyromania99]

Lyris smiled as her new Snow Elf friend described her own liking of flowers and laughed when she mentioned bees. "Yes, bees are quite the hazard when it comes to flowers." It was after that that she noticed another elf walking over, she could only assume it was a different type of elf from the one she was talking to. Taller, for sure. There was a subtly to skin tone as well but that didn't really matter as much. She wasn't sure of the relationship between the two types of elves and she did want to ask, but decided against it. . . Or maybe it is better to say that the voice demanding everyone's attention was the cause. It was time for the Demos! Well, not that she cared much. Sure she had mageblood, sure she went to the school, it didn't mean she went to learn. Lyris was mostly in it to get away from "home" and have a place to stay. She wasn't even sure how she ended up there but it didn't matter as she was there now and that's all that mattered.

While she wasn't paying much attention there was a loud noise, thunder but really close. Her back tensed as she recoiled from the noise and then metal everywhere seemed to lift into the air. . . Luckily she didn't have any metal on! Or, maybe it was just that she had metal that didn't react to the spell. She wasn't sure. The outfit was "commandeered" from a village. It was supposedly a traditional robe of the Alanian with holes for the wings and all! Something of heritage for her. . . Probably. Then, in the middle of thought, everything fell! Looking around, with things poking out of wooden surfaces, forks, weapons . . . Spoons? "Someone must have done that themselves." Most likely someone who was rather angry. . . Lyris was actually pretty curious what would anger someone enough to put a spoon, headfirst, down into wood. It must have happened rather recently too, as apparently even excessively heavy objects (by Lyris's standards) were even picked up. Finding no answer in the nearby people, she dropped the subject for sake of her own sanity.

Noticeable, her Snow Elf friend was missing. After looking for about half a second, Aramir was finally spotted. Her bow (Lyris could only assume it had something to do with the electric madness that just happened) was now in the hands of. . . Some snake person. "A naga, was it?" She had only seen them today that she could remember. A book on different species was back at home and seeing as she read almost every book there, she recognized the race's name. "Now, this is interesting." She said as she wondered whether she should help, or just stand back and see what happens.

[Sundered Echo]

Xeric’s eyes sought for something, or someone, in particular. The young, hot headed student Zaad and Samuel had mentioned from the infirmary, one that seemed to have potential yet it took gloating from the Demon to make her stay. Something the Esyire found to be a pity as from what the healer had said, the young Elf had decent raw talent and would’ve otherwise be wasted. Not something the Pyromancer teacher liked in the least but she had a feeling, a faint one, that if the Elf saw her own potential then she might actually work to master it. Not just linger within the College.

Noting where the Elf was, the Pyromancer teacher’s eyes followed the student’s path to retrieve her dagger. It was firmly embedded into the table’s end of the teacher’s table. A small distance from the Esyire herself, which for Xeric was a convenience, as she watched the Wood Elf struggle to pull it out. Gingerly, the white scaled teacher walked towards the student while her tail shifted the helm of her skirt until she stopped just beside the Wood Elf. Her arms folded behind her, she glance towards the chaos left behind in Serge’s wake, the others either picked themselves off the ground or gathered items scattered about seemed to need a few moments. Plenty of time for her to coax the young woman into her demonstration, Xeric believed.

“Ahem… I believe you’re the young Pyromancer that was in the infirmary. I have a request of you, if you’re up to,” Xeric asked, her tone serious and firm. “Then again, you’re recovering and it might be rather much for you to attempt. I don’t want you to exhaust yourself assisting me after all in the demo.”

Auriel looked up from her failing attempt to pull her dagger from the table when the Pyromancy teacher addressed her. She had a scowl on her face, partially due to the stubborn dagger, and partially because the Esyire seemed to be acting like Zaad. She thought she'd gotten rid of him and his insults, but she couldn't help but feel that there was more fun to be had with that attitude tonight. She took a break from the dagger for a moment, not wanting to make herself look weak with her failure to pull it from the wood, then sarcastically said to the teacher. "What, did Zaad put you up to this?"

"No, if that pile of ashes had then it's unlikely he would've been able to move for long, long time. I merely overheard him mention to Khan about a bedridden...Doll Face, I think. Samuel, the healer told me about a Wood Elf that was a Pyromancer. So afterwards, with being in medical wing, I assumed it meant you would've been in worse condition then I see you in now." Her head looked over Auriel as if noting her current action as indicating otherwise.

"Bloody Inferno, he did put you up to this." She'd had enough of being called Doll Face, but it occurred to her then that she'd never actually given her name to anyone but Althalus. It wouldn't make a difference with Zaad, but at least the others might bother using it. "I do have a name you know, so you can stop calling me Doll Face if you like looking so pretty. Call me Auriel."

"Auriel, then. At least now I know who crystallized his face, about time. However, I think you could've done much more. Raw talent does need refinement but not all students are cut out to learn the true power a Pyromancer can obtain. Only those who are brave enough and sadly many lack such qualities." Xeric sighed a little and then turned, her eyes looked over the crowd. "It seems he might've been correct then and I rather not have you collapse after all. It won't do well if the one assisting in performance collapse, would it? I'll find someone else then and inform the Headmaster you might need more time to recover in the infirmary then."

She was definitely not going to go back to the infirmary, and even though she could tell the words that came from Xerics mouth were probably put there by Zaad, she wouldn't just back down now. "I'll be damned if I go back to bedrest. You've found your volunteer, I'm right here. I doubt any of these others have the stomach for it. So whats going to happen anyway? You should know I tend to burn things that aren't meant to be burned."

Xeric didn't smile, outwardly, as her words were blunt. "I won't worry about that. Pyromancy has many aspects, the one I need you for is to demonstrate how a Pyromancer can boost another's energy. You'll have more power and I'll also aid you in manipulating it into a shape, even moving the flame around. However, most the effort as well as the designed object is from you alone. I look forward to what you aim to create."

The Eysire then moved forward and tightened around the handle. It started to glow a bit, just a slight heat pulsed though, while the wood that lodge the steel blade began to sizzle and scorch a bit. Xeric held it there for a moment, then ceased and easily ripped the weapon from the table leaving behind a burnt mark. "One more thing, Auriel. For Novices to inflict damage and even crystallize a certain pest, I suggest focusing your magic into this and slice. It tends to have...effective results on contact."

With those words she placed the now cooled blade back upon the table for the student to pick up.

"I can do that." She said confidently, replying to both statements at once. She was a little annoyed at having the Esyire pull the dagger free for her, charity wasn't really something she appreciated if it made her look weak. That was all drowned in other emotions though. She wasn't really sure she could do what Xeric asked despite the confident appearance she was projecting. She was incredibly worried she'd set the building on fire. She didn't really know what to make either, especially since it'd be seen by so many people. Nonetheless, once she had replaced the dagger in its sheath she followed Xeric to the teachers table with the same subtle nonchalant swagger she usually used in social situations.

"New and old students will come to know me as Xeric Firestone, the Pryomancy teacher. Pyromancy is the manipulation of fire and aspects related to it. Currently, I've asked a new student, Auriel, to assist me in displaying one of the rarely known elements. The ability to boost another's Mage blood effect." She motioned for the Wood Elf to step forward as pointed where she wanted her, slight in front and to the right. Auriel walked to where the teacher indicated and Xeric gently rested her hand upon Auriel's shoulder.

When the tingling raced up and down, edged from the center point where it gently warmed Auriel's body, the Pyromancer teacher quietly spoke. "Hold out your hand while I transfer the flame into it. Then keep it there, focused on the center and remain calm. Flames grow power from extreme emotions. Once you feel confident enough then picture an image within your mind of anything you would like and see it in the flame."

Auriel could feel all the eyes of the room on her as Xeric gave instructions. Not quite the attention level she was looking for at the start of the night, but it wasn't anything to frighten her either. She held out her hand, and a sliver of flame from each of the nearby torches shot towards the space above it, forming into a ball. Auriel focused hard on keeping it there, creasing her brow a little as she did so. She didn't want to set anything on fire here.

It took half a minute for her to become confident that it wasn't going to end up catastrophically failing. Once she did, she began to focus on the feeling of freedom she had while running through the woods in Ghannos, the exhilaration of being chased through those same woods. Days of fun and enjoyment long passed. The flame in her hand began to grow, roiling about with speed as if trying to escape. Auriel wasn't really sure what to do at that point, she didn't have any image in mind, but she wouldn't look back at Xeric for advice.

Xeric easily keep her eyes upon the flames. They danced and flickered within the student's palm while she kept there rather well by herself. The Pyromancer teacher was a little impressed, a uncommon thing even among older and more experienced students. But she didn't let an ounce spill out into her face. It won't help the student and likely risk making Auriel more smug, something Xeric hated within her students. It made bigger fools in the end.

"Now, you might want to give a shape. An animal would be ideal as you can move and manipulate it. Not to mention gives you a feel for the flame's essence. Is there animal you're fond of or remember best?" Xeric asked, trying to stay firm yet gentle so not to draw away Auriel's focus. "I'll keep the flame small but you have to give it the shape."

That was more useful for Auriel. She knew a few animals in Ghannos, and the forest was filled with birds. One bird in particular she'd seen quite often, and she pictured it in her mind. It was one of her favourites, and one she'd spent a lot of time watching when she wasn't being chased or doing something to get people to chase her. The fire began to take shape, following the image in her mind, stretching out to create a colossal construct with a wingspan almost as wide as the room.

The moment it was fully shaped, it leapt into the air and swooped down at the crowd just like the real bird did back in Ghannos. Auriel was barely in control of the roiling bird-shaped conflagration and was hoping against hope that Xeric would make sure it wouldn't hurt anyone.

Xeric had a vague notion of what was about to happen, herself done something similar during her school years and with much more painful intentions. The young man from her youth did deserve his rump roasted when he commented on her 'ugly' mug. A fire bird, beautiful and graceful as the flames that made it, took off. Immediately when the bird was in mid flight towards someone in the crowd, it's path unchanged, her hand rose right at it. The size quickly shrank within moments until it was merely a palm size of what it had been. It's figure glided around others on it's path towards the man that had earlier been well on his way to the roof during Serge's earlier magnetizing and now had made a dive for his face! At first Xeric thought it would certainly burn him, her face glanced at Auriel to see the Wood Elf intently focused. The girl was up to something (a familiar display in her body of exhilaration and fun, something Xeric could easily tell) or at least had the sense not lose her control yet. The bird had nearly been close to clipping the man's face, it's wings pulled up at the last moment only to fade. That was when Xeric noticed Auriel's face cracked into a smile.

"Did you have fun?" Xeric couldn't help but ask, her eyebrow inquired. "If you're done, I think we should take a bow."

Auriel had enjoyed the experience rather more than she would admit. Magic, when controlled, seemed to be rather the amazing experience. She didn't let her surprise show though. Instead, she did as Xeric suggested and bowed for the audience, not as low as she could of, but enough. With that, she jumped off the raised platform that the teachers table rested on and walked casually back into the crowd of students, making her way back to the barrels. She was having trouble believing she'd just done what she did while sober. It was probably for the better, but she really wanted to fix that now.

[Fallenreaper]

Lidda Sonnet- Vitamancy

She was excited, beyond words and explanations, her eyes flickered with eagerness to get to her turn. So when Khan promptly moved his head to her give her the signal, she had to literally seal her vocal cords not to shout! Lidda quickly stood, still fixed in her faun appearance and moved to the center stage. Her arms wide enough to draw all eyes upon her strange form where she elegantly introduced herself, her voice energized with her delight. “My name is Lidda Sonnet, the Vitamancy teacher, a Mage Blood that affects the Arcanite within the body. And while it can’t shoot lightning or manipulate fire, it is a versatile with many useful traits unique to its Blood. There are three aspects to Vitamancy for students to choose from and dedicate their studies to: Defensive, Offensive, and Shapeshifting. While I’m able to perform all three, my talent and pleasure lies in the last aspect as I will now demonstrate.”

With the last of her word, Lidda’s skin started to change, her form made loud bone cracking sounds. Her fingers grew longer, sprouted webbing, into wings while her wrist jerked into an odd angle. The teacher’s jaw lengthened, filled with razor sharp teeth and scales stick out at all angles to give her reptilian form a spiky appearance. She slammed the tail down full force causing most everything to rattle and shake before Lidda, now a twelve foot tall Wyvern let out a deafening roar. It rattled the glasses while it vibrated throughout the halls like a behemoth thirsty for blood.

Immediately following that, her skin color changed. Bright color glowed and danced over her Wyvern skin, making the appearance look out of place until finally she shifted again. Her bone cracked once again with a sickening sound. The tail disappeared, wings melted away and most her scales flattened. Lidda’s hair grew long, snake like with small hooded cobras looking upon the Students, once more in the appearance of an elegant woman. Without batting an eye, only her smirk betrayed her wickedness, her fingers grew into claws then sliced off one of her skins easily. The snake withered a bit then still, a bloodied stump left behind. Just moments after, the stump healed and a new snake regrow to replace the old as if nothing had happened. Still in her present form, Lidda bowed for her exit then allow Frost to take her turn.

Frost Windsor-Cyromancy

The Cyromancer teacher had a short cut for her white hair, neatly trimmed with a single, small pony tail in back. Her finger pushed the ebony rimmed glasses tightly against her frosty eyes and seemed to magnify them, once more threaten to slip off her small nose. A small snow elf even by her own race standards, Frost Windsor then began her introduction. She was dressed in a thin tunic and breeches designed for her small stature, her boot quickly clicked as she came around to the table’s front. She took a deep breath to fight off the nerves jittered despite how often she had done this, while she focused upon the water in the air. There wasn’t much after the Pyromancer display. Thankfully before the demonstration she ensured Val placed several Hydromancy runes upon the Dining Hall roof that would replenish the room’s supply. Shortly most would note there was slight mist within the room when Frost stepped up.

To rise herself high and able speak at most student’s seated eye level, ice crackled and gathered into a center spot. It shaped and formed into a crystal riser in front of her. Her boots pressed into one step then another, her eyes able to see most the students with her increased height.

“I’m the Cyromancer teacher, Frost Windsor, and yes, Joseph Windsor is related to me as we are twins. Now, Cyromancy is the mageblood that deals heavily with ice and dropping temperatures. Most Cyromancers will learn a bit of Hydromancy in order to aid their magic’s effectiveness. I shall show you the mildest effect Cyromanacy can have as my demonstration.” Frost said then immediately everyone would feel the temperature drop within the room.

It was steady at first but quickly grew more frigid by the moment until most students could see their breaths. Icicles formed upon the rafters and snow had begun to fall in gentle and soft flakes, gently giving the room an appearance of winter within the room. To end her short but impressive demo, Frost’s fingers snapped and the wintery affects ceased quickly.

Dervis Hearth- Aeromancy

Naturally, Dervis politely excused himself from his conversation with Satori. The man had used the Psychomancy teacher to aid in his antsy wait, though he was sure she knew this, his hand ran through his curl brown locks in his nervous gesture. His body moved to replace Frost while the snowy effects still remained within the room and dressed in his normal attire, a simple shirt, breeches, and boots. For the most part he looked like a human student which had drawn a students to mumble, followed shortly by some hushes by the older ones. Most of his class knew him and aided sometimes in gaining respect, his chocolate eyes sparked with mirth when he started his demonstration.

“I’m Dervis Hearth, the Aeromancy teacher. Aeromancy studies and manipulate the wind, creating powerful and wide range effect with a simple desire. It can be as gentle as a breeze or furious as a summer storm to rain down upon your foes.” With those words he started off, firstly to clear the room of the snow effect left behind.

Wind gathered and whipped about his figure, his hair tossed back and forth, the current surrounded inches around his whole form. It seemed to play around the teacher while wherever he stepped towards the snow, the white piles was lashed away to leave a clear path where he suddenly stopped. There was clear enjoyment in the next part while his feet lifted off the floor into the air. This time another floating act had occurred but this one was far more controlled and willing the one a student had earlier been forced on. Higher and higher Dervis rose until his hand reached out to pluck a lodged coin (One of Athalus’s earlier ones) that had embedded into the roof. Slowly he was let down once more, his feet hopped onto the ground at last where he bowed. He then walked back to his chair where the man took his seat once again.

Justine Flowerstyr-Geomancy

Justine Flowerstyr came up forward, a six foot tall Wood Elf and dressed in his College wear that consisted of a light blue tunic with gold stitched Twilight sigil at his breast, off white breeches and black boots that seemed to have seen better days. It did nothing to hide his thin and athletic appearance, his build suited best to climbing trees and scaled across thin limbs with ease. His short hair was nothing short of a rat’s nest that could’ve been due from a number of activities both savory and frowned on, matching his rich tan most his kindred had.

He opened his mouth only to be interrupted by Khan, politely. The Elf turned back to look at the Headmaster with a guilty, sheepish look at Khan’s next words.

“Justine, try to keep the speech short please?”

“Very well, Headmaster but you know there’s-“Justine stopped when Khan’s eyebrow raised, a gentle warning, forcing the teacher’s next words to be brief and simply to the point. “Alright. I’m the Geomancer master Justine Flowerstyr. Geomancy is about manipulating arcanite within the earth itself, from stones to metals, and even soil itself making it an interesting magic to manipulate.”

His hand reached down and punched into the ground sending a piece of the floor to shot up, a small six by six rectangle, in front of him. Slowly the Geomancer rose to stand, his body before it and hands reached to touch it. His eyes closed but the block itself had started to crumble. One chuck fell off, crumbled away and the pile soon grew. Something appeared to emerge from under the reddish brown earth, given shape by Justine’s MageBlood. In moments the shell of a Golem, simple in its human shape and readied for Uicle’s future demonstration, stood there for the students to admire. To end his show, Justine’s hands pushed open the Golem’s back then stepped into its hollowed out inside. When he was in, the back sealed and covered him completely to allow the Elf to march the soon to be Golem behind Uicle. He exited then plopped into the seat beside the Necromancer, his fingers rubbed dirt from his hair.

“There’s one crafted Golem for you Uicle, hope you like it. Reminds me of something I attempted one time before. As a young advance mage, I tried to make a girl once out of earth just for…” Justine started off into one of his long winded rambling with the fellow teacher during the other demonstrations.

Craig Gray-Noxomancy

Next up was the ex-vampire, Craig Gray, his body dressed from head to toe within a black coat and held a hardened expression. Traces of his Albino skin peered out around his pink eyes covered by small, onyx speculates. To most he looked like an eerie undertaker or mad doctor with a tall top hat as his body moved forward for his display, his steps meticulous and business like. His fanged teeth clenched each gloved finger to remove his glove before he spoke, placed the glove into his other hand. He coughed for attention and when all eyes settled upon him, he spoke with a deep, knowledgeable tone.

“I am Craig Gray, the Noxomancer teacher. For the first year, Noxomancer novice will learn to develop and strengthen their connection to the only ability they will have: the magic to decay. Once able to call on such magic at will and strong enough, they will take a trip with me for the Noxomancy alignment to one of three: Pestilence, Decay, or Shadows. Currently, I’m aligned with Pestilence but my main focus today is to demonstrate the ability of decay.”

His head nodded to the one of the guards, Mathix, who held a series of throwing knives and readied with one in hand. At the signal the man threw a well-practiced toss right at Craig who jerked to the side, his hand followed it and brushed the knife end. At his touch the steel crumbled and rusted into dust midair. Three more knives were tossed; each met the same fate through touch or glance. Quickly, his steps brought him to stand beside Mathix as the last blade came out and nearly clipped him. In moments, it too dusted within thin air signaling the end of his Noxomancy demonstration. Craig and Mathix both bowed then, like the others, took a seat.

Zelda Abbadon – Chantment

The magic displays continued smoothly when Zelda Abbadon, dressed well for the occasion and seemed to appear like an old fashion teacher, stood from his chair and round the teacher table. His long cloak patch worked in places with great care, along with his travel worn shirt and dark pants. His scalp is bald and rather shiny that even the torch light reflected off it. Thick, grimy brows seemed to connect above his eyes that turned up in a rather sour look. Steps halted in place and his voice echoed off the hall, well-practiced by his Ancient magic art.

“Chantment is one of the rarest and most difficult of the three ancient magics to learn, not all mages are able to have such talents and no Blood Mage alive is known to have both Mage blood and an Ancient magic. I am Zelda Abbadon, the Chantment teacher. A magic that uses one’s voice to attack, defend or aid, as well as a noble practice.” He announced, and then muttered something in Latin.

A rush of energy seemed to hit the torches, their flames sparked and erupted to flood the room with greater light. The blazes sizzled into blazes that threatened to overwhelm the school’s wall only to stay in place on the torch tips. Another phrase, low and hard to caught, had the fire separated into fiery butterfly shapes. They fluttered off the wooden stands to dance across the student’s heads, fragile looking form darted around many different students then faded within the air at Abbadon’s last phrase, ceasing his part of the Feast.

Ghell- Weaving

At the end of Abbadon’s fire butterflies, the Weaving master stood. He was an elderly man, hunched over by his many years and face covered in wrinkles along his grinning face. His frame too thin for the large, modest robe tied at the waist from his days at the temple. Not a single step seemed to hide his energy when he nearly skipped to the front, his fingers signed and then jerked to create a plate form to step onto.

“Hello there, new and old students. I’m Ghell and please, don’t ask for a last because I have none. I’m currently the Weaving teacher here and am pleased to show you a bit of what those with weaving magic are able to achieve from my teachings!” His hand pushed outright and body started to move in a series of complex patterns, well-practiced and in utter control.

For several minutes nothing happened. Ghell’s movement ended, his body poised and seemed to wait for something. This caused a few students to mutter, some quiet while others loudly protested at the lacking display. The weaving master merely stood there, his large ear picked up the soft rumbling. Glasses rattled, dishes fell off the tables, chairs overturned as a large crack appeared upon the floor creating a small crag that divided the students. The crack was about a foot wide and ran the length of the floor, from head table to the doorway, the weaving master still widely grinned at his powerful display. Then repeated another set that caused the rift to slowly mend itself once more. He bowed then hopped off his now broken platform back to his seat.

Val Byarian- Runes

During the magical events and fancy show offs, Val had returned back to the Dining Hall. In her hands were several bandages and enough items to be suitable for a mini first aid kit, her runes for her turn placed within the jumbled mess. Her short form shuffled through the waists of most the student, their words in awes and amazement though Val herself had seen this Feast play several times in her teaching here. Still it pleased her to hear the student’s reaction to the master at work to impression and show off. Her body shifted around a large fellow, half orc by the looks of him, and rather jittery that it caused her to pause midway. Her eyes looked at him and spoke in her heavy accent.

“Donnea worry about it, ye safe enough. Nar a teacher ‘ill allow any harm t’come to ye durin’ yer stay so relax ‘n excuse me, I needin’ to be gittin’ tis to the head table b’fore mah turn.” the female dwarf commented briefly, her figure gently moved around the student then vanished into the student crowd that recovered from the magic effects thanks to the last show.

Her small stature made it quickly towards the table and shortly arrived at Khan’s side. She emptied her hands then noted it was her turn to begin, her eyes turned to Khan who smiled and motioned for her to go. “I’ll be fine, it’s your turn.”

Val’s eyebrow raised at him in question then her words turned towards Lucilia. “Make sure he takes care of ‘imself. Now t’git tis fun started.”

She straightened herself up, her hands gathered up the single Rune, Teleportation, and seemed prepared to clean someone’s clock, her face determined and scowled while she made her way to the table front. Her voice was loud and belted across the room with a slight force that demanded attention.

“Alrite, ye novices. Tis name’s Val Byarian and I’m the Rune master, one and final displayin’ of the Ancient magics ye find connect’t wit MageBlood. Now, unlikes Chantment or Weavin’, mah specialty is better b’fore ye git into the fightin’. It requires symbols ‘n writin’ upon items like those fer combat or ever’ day. Tis preparation thar ‘ill keep others from messin’ wit ye due to a wide range of affects nea found in other bloods like tis…”

Without allowing the students to adjust to what she was saying, Val’s hand squeezed the current rune, Teleportation, tightly. She seemed to have vanished from sight in an instance! For a stun silence most eyes started at where the Rune master had been moments before her loud voice boomed out from the door way.

“Ye’ll all lookin’ the wrong way.” Val smirked, her hand reached for a discarded ale upon the table then once more vanished.

She popped in and among others students at random. First was right next to a Lux Esyire beside to a tired looking woman, then a man that looked as if he was a vampire and sat with the Ocean Naga she met before, and several others. Some she gave a cheeky wink and smile until she disappeared again. It happened several times until Val was forced to give the Rune a rest, not wanted her next teleport to end her up in a wall or worse. Already the item had grown red from the spontaneous usage and forced her to place it down, her body took her seat beside Tyrael once more. At least once she spotted Khan had rewrapped his injury again.

“Alrite, ye next.” She said, her eyes narrowed to the next teacher up.

[Lucius Cypher]

Tyrael Marchosias

Tyrael watched his fellow teachers put on their display. He himself would have been more enthralled, if he hadn't had to focus his magics for his own performance. What he was going to do was going to take much energy from him, but hopefully it would be worth it. He knew the fear many people had with Demonmancy; he wanted to show what they had to rightfully fear, and how they can control it. He meditated in his seat, allowing his blood to coax itself for his spell. Occasionally he glanced around the room at the other teacher's displays, but mostly looking at the students. So far they seem to react well to the teacher's abilities. He hoped it stayed like that.

Than came his turn. Val, the dwarven Rune Master, had just finished her display of teleportation when he was called forth. There was jitters in his stomach, and despite teaching for the last few years, it never died down. All the better, because Tyrael wanted to kill this demonstration like he killed all those people back in his orc days. He didn't require a podium to stand on or a device to amplify his voice; he was already quite large, and he spoke loudly. "I am Tyrael Marchosias. Professor of Demonmancy. There is much to learn from the citizens of the Inferno. But before you can discover their secrets, you must earn their loyalty. With Blood."

As staff members came out to clean up some of the mess caused by the staff, Tyrael shot out his hands to his side, glowing with the heat of the Inferno. Suddenly, the entire room began to shake. Tables morphed, the floor shifted, and the walls began to fade. Tyrael's eyes, black beads, began to glow ominously. And suddenly, just when it seemed that the transformation would take some time, the entire dinning hall was converted into the likeness of the Inferno. And it's inhabitants summoned. Without warning, without even a hint of intention, the demons began to attack the staff members, killing them in a myriad of ways. Small demons like imps showed that despite their size, they could tear off chucks of a man's flesh, while Larger demons showed off their precision with well aimed throws of a fellow worker towards another hapless worker, killing them both. And those who were not killed by the demons burst into flames, burning to ashes from the shear heat brought on from the Inferno. Others began to suffocate, their lungs filled with a smog that turned to stone in their lungs. Others were tore to shreds as violent winds from the Inferno brought sand and stone to dangerous speeds, shearing the flesh and sinew off their bones, leaving behind scarred skeletons of what they once where. None of the students were a victim to the carnage however, as Tyrael would soon explain.

"The Inferno is a hellish, violent place. And through my power I have protected you from it! Not only do the demons threaten to destroy you and your ways of live, but the realm they come from has no intention of letting you live. So you must grow stronger than the demons, become more powerful than the realm itself, or get eaten alive." Tyrael ended his demonstration there, leaving his demons to rampage as he returned to his seat.

Lucilia Riovas

Which in turn allowed Lucilia to step up. She sighed as Tyrael's demons began to kill off the staff members, so she planned to put an end to it. Clapping her hands together, tree roots burst from beneath the ground, wrapping around the unbound demons before they could properly attack. Some tried to set the wood on fire, but all this accomplished was being crushed and burned to death at the same time. The roots than began to lash out at the other demons, crushing them, impaling them, wrapping around their limbs and tearing them off piece by piece. All the while the Dinning hall began to lose it's more Inferno qualities, reverting back to it's former state as Lucilia slayed the demons and used her magic to restore the damage.

"Greetings students. I am Lucilia Riovas, professor of Herbamancy, as well as Master Alchemist. Herbamancy is the magic that allows one to use nature, to help it grow and strengthen, as well as allowing you to control and manipulate it to your own ends. My students will learn how to give life to a seed that is malnourished" She demonstrated by throwing a seed into the face of one of the demons who haven't been captured yet. The seed than began to grow rapidly, growing on the demon's face. He tried to tried it off, but it was growing too fast. The seed soon became a tree, and the demon was wrapped in it's roots, his body providing nourishment for the young sapling. "Restore the damage done to nature no matter how sever," To demonstrate this, one of the wooden tables that was freed from the Inferno began to sprout additional roots and limbs, growing into a mighty treeant. The same happened to some unoccupied chairs and wooden utensils, just about all of them turning into a tree giant to hunt down the remaining demons. "And even communicate with the plants." There was no way for Lucilia to demonstrate this, but she had collected much information on the students from communicating through the grapevine.

As Tyrael's demons were chased out or killed by Lucilia's, the dinning hall shifted back into it's former state. Lucilia took a bow and returned to her seat, drinking a potion to restore her energy. All in all, the damage wasn't too bad, she had half-expected some casualties among the students and a broken wall, but the fact that neither happened was a good sign for her.

[EliteCommander]

Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

Certainly, Ssarak found most of the demonstrations rather interesting, and even entertaining. They showcased some abilities that he had not actually been aware of, in a few cases. He did not know that a pyromancer could strengthen the abilities of others, and he wondered if there were any abilities from other magebloods that could accomplish something similar? Some of the demonstrations were perhaps not as theatrical as the others, but they were all impressive in their own right.

Ssarak had particular distaste for the cryomancy demonstration, as it brought the temperature of the room down far below anything he had experienced before. The Scorched Lands were, as the name would suggest, quite hot all the time, and since leaving, he had chosen to remain in the warmer regions of Tien, so a veritable blizzard inside the hall was not something he had been expecting. Thankfully, the cold was short lived, as the cryomancer brought the temperature of the hall back to normal in an instant. He did not think there would be a demonstration he disliked more than that one, but unfortunately, he was wrong.

Through each demonstration, Ssarak found himself in awe at times, and entertained at others. The Dwarven rune master's demonstration was rather humorous, even if he had no idea what she was saying. Her show of teleportation seemed to bring the room into high spirits, but the next instructor, the Demonmancer, turned the dining hall to chaos. Ssarak was confused about what was going on when the room began to shake, the walls changed form, and even the table in front of him began to morph. Suddenly, the hall took on the form of the Inferno itself. Had this been all that occurred, Ssarak simply would have been surprised, but when the demons began to appear, he reacted instantly. He did not know what was going on. Was this part of the plan? Had the demons capitalized on some sort of mistake the Demonmancer made? In the heat of the moment, Ssarak did not have time to ponder these questions, for when the new demons began to attack, his instincts as a warrior threw him into action.

Ssarak jumped up from his chair and grabbed an imp creature that was flying by him by the neck. then turned and turned and smashed it down through his chair, splintering it into pieces. Without wasting a moment, he crushed the imp's head under his boot and grabbed one of the nearby broken chair legs, which had broken into a sharp point on one side. Demons of all shapes and sizes were terrorizing the room, so Ssarak went for the closest of the new arrivals: a strange looking human-sized demon that was assaulting one of the staff members. With as much force as he could muster, he stabbed the makeshift wooden stake into the back of the demon, though it broke in half when he tried to pull it back out. The demon was not killed, so Ssarak prepared to defend himself when the demon turned around, but strangely, nothing happened. The look in the creature's eyes showed that it wanted to slaughter the Esyire, but it just growled, then moved on to another staff member.

Looking around, Ssarak finally noticed that all of the demons were only attacking the other demons that served the college. None of the students had even been touched. Soon enough, the Demonmancer took his seat, and the next instructor, the Herbamancer dealt with the attacking demons. Tree roots burst out of the ground and crushed many of the attackers to death, while, at the same time, the room started to shift back into its previous form. For obvious reasons, herbamancy was not a popular mageblood in the barren Scorched Lands, so he had no idea of the sheer potential it had in a conflict. In truth, Lucilia's demonstration had impressed Ssarak more than any of the others so far, though it did not serve to calm his nerves. The Demonmany demonstration quite understandably put him on edge, and it certainly did not do wonders for the idea that the students would be safe in the college. Perhaps, Ssarak reasoned, it would be a good idea for him to remain armed from this point forward. By the end of Lucilia's demonstration, the dining hall was mostly back to normal.

Except now Ssarak did not have a chair.

[Konan375]

Leith watched the Pyromancy demonstration with some amusement. The teacher called on one of the new students to help, and showed what can be done with Pyromancy. He chuckled when the giant bird that the student made went straight for the man in black before pulling away. The smile on the student's face showed that she wasn't intending on harming the man, at least, that's what Leith hoped.

The Vitamancy demonstration was interesting, and Leith made a mental note not get on the woman's bad side, and from how excitable she looked, seemed like a difficult thing to do. He suppressed a shudder at the thought of making that woman angry. He took a look around and saw a few students with extremely worried looks on their faces. With an amused look, Leith looked back at the head table, raised his eyebrows when the teacher that Xyden picked walked out.

It turned out that she was the Cryomancer. Leith looked at Xyden when she announced it, and made a decision.

"Well, since the odds were stacked against us from the beginning, I think that it's fair that the closest one to Hydromancy should win the wager, so you win. I just have two rules for the favour, if you don't mind. One: It won't hurt someone, and two: I won't get me into any deep trouble. Anything else is fair game."

The rest of the demonstrations went by quickly, and Leith noted with a chuckle that his pick was right after the Cryomancy demo and was the farthest thing away from water. He jumped slightly when the Runemaster appeared right beside him and laughed. When it got to the Demonmancy demonstration, however, it seemed like all hell broke loose, quite literally. Demons started attacking people. The dining room no longer looked like the dining room. Some people started choking on the air. Leith had no idea what to do. His panic died away when he realized that the teachers wouldn't let something like this happen. He looked at the people that the demons attacked and noticed that while they did look human, they weren't. Leith looked at the head table and saw one of the teachers stand up and clap her hands.

Roots burst from the ground and started to attack the demons. Leith watched in awe as Lucilia dispatched the demons quickly. The dining hall started to revert to its original look. With a sigh, Leith leaned back in his chair. He looked out at the students and noticed Ssarak standing up and looking at the ground by his table. As Leith wondered what it was that Ssarak was looking at, a gap in the students appeared and Leith saw the splintered remains of a chair. Leith waved at the black Esyire to get his attention. When he did, he gestured to his table. There was an empty chair, and Leith assumed that Xyden wouldn't mind having another person at the table.

[Lucius Cypher]

Satori

The pink-haired teacher muffled a laugh when she saw what her fellow teachers were up to. Some gave it their all while others only did a paltry job, but who was who, none of the students would know. Soon it came time for her to come up, so she stepped to the front to cause a bit of her own chaos. "Hello everyone. I am Satori, the teacher of Psychomancy. I'm afraid that I don't have much of a visual display to show you all, but none the less, I would like to tell you that Psychomancy is one of the most subtle magics there is. Not all the hows, whys, and whens can be detected by everyone, not even a master such as I. But I shouldn't ramble for too long. Allow me to propose a toast for all of us here at the college today." Satori raised her glass of wine, and many of the students followed suit. And it was when she, along with those in the dinning hall save some students, were hit by the magical effects of Psychomancy.

So many here with unguarded thoughts. Even those with training lacked the sheer power to avoid Satori's magic. The moment they let their lips touch the rim of their cups, their thoughts, their minds, all spiraled into nightmares.

Coco Bean

Coco's nightmare began with her in a beautiful garden. Between the many acres were stretches of plant life, with many wild flowers and little creatures living within. The further Coco went, the less walkways, eventually leading to an open field of flowers, untouched by any mortal development. It was a magnificent sight that would fill Coco with renewed energy, and maybe even a sense of happiness. Happiness, which quickly began to freeze. The temperature dropped. The sun became blacked out by clouds, and ice began to form on the flowers. Any attempts to touch them shattered into shards, and soon the frost was beginning to take a grip on Coco as well. Her previous energy began to rush out of her body as she would soon begin to feel the cold touch of death... Before she saw the fires of Syphis come to take her. From the frozen flowers her people, fellow Foreas, and her friends at the college, were one by one eaten by the beasts of Aarem. If Coco tried to fight, she would find her body movements grind to a halt as her limbs begin to freeze. Her magic, her mage blood, no longer in her body. She had become powerless as she was forced to observe the destruction of her people and those she had come to know. Her nightmare ended was the maw of a Syphis turned to her, and whispered words of horror into her very soul.

Leith Calder

Leith's nightmare began at his birth. Despite being only a baby, he would witness the faces of his loving mother and father. They coddled him and attended to his every need, and were always there when Leith would begin to cry. His life continued before his eyes, becoming a small child. He was with his friends, playing a game in their town like children do. They looked to Leith as their better, and showered him in compliments as he made sure they began to enjoy their time with him. But than an adult showed up. A man shrouded in darkness, and when he showed his face, Leith would know he was a vampire. The man rushed towards leith, and before the child could do anything, he was taken into the man's embraced. When Leith came to, he would see the his mother killed right before his eyes, a sword driven through her chest as the blade nearly impaled Leith himself. His friends, now the age of young adults, armed to slay him and his family. His father's body laid motionless on the ground, his severed head in the hands of one of Leith's friends as they cut off the head of his mother. His former friends began to throw insults and words of hatred at Leith, condemning his vampirism. And try as he might, nothing he said would convince his former friends that he was not a vampire. Suddenly he was stabbed from behind with a blade, but death did not come for him. Vampires were notoriously hardy creatures, and so Leith's former friends began to stab him, with blade bringing a new world of pain as Leith continued to suffer. Soon his body was dragged into a dark room, where he was chained to a wall. His former friends no longer present, instead two men appeared. "Be doing Eania a favour. The only good vampire is a dead one." where the only words they said before they began to torture Leith. What reason or purpose they did this to Leith was left unexplained, his final memories being the feeling of his body burned to ash.

Aramir Ryk

Aramir's nightmare began in her icy tomb. But she was not alone; she was in the middle of a pile of bodies, bodies of her kinsmen, her fellow tribe who had died from starvation. Aramir may try to climb out, but before she would make any significant results she was forcefully pulled out of the ground by a hook not unlike what she would use for fishing. As her body was dragged through the corpses, she was thrust into battle. She was surrounded by her tribe, all of them brandishing weapons and killing one another. Against her will, Aramir began to fight. She clawed, punch, and tore the flesh from her friends and enemies, slowly beginning to take up weapons to kill more efficiently. All the while she was stabbed, shot by arrows, and bashed in the head, but still she fought. She still killed. Friends, foes, innocent people just trying to get away from it all, no one was safe from her. She saw a great fire, with her tribe running out before dying to their injuries. Despite the blistering blizzard that was active, the fire raged on. Aramir made a trail of corpses as she killed all withins arms reach, even some children trying to escape. Aramir's nightmare ended when she walked into the flames, her body now numb as the her world of ice filled with smoke.

Aruna Mortista

Aruna's nightmare began while in the womb. But she was not a child, no, but a fully grown woman. But she was being crushed in her tiny prison, and so she sought to free herself by tearing out of her mothers uterus, causing quite a mess as her mother was killed by the shot of having a fully grown woman exploding out of her lower body. This sick opening was but the beginning as Aruna would face the enemies of her past, each one becoming a reminder of the suffering she went through growing up. Her attempts to fight back are met with failure as she is overpowered and humiliated, cementing her puny existence. Her nightmare comes to a close at none other than the college, where her last memories were of her cut into pieces, with the sound of Meirin and Ssarak discussing what to do with her parts.

Meirin Kurenai

Meirin's nightmare begins at the college. She wakes up for a new day, like one she would face later. She dresses, prepares her body for the day, and leaves the door. Sunlight shines through the windows, but the halls carries an aura of lifelessness. Meirin continues on her path and stops at a window. Outside she would see demons executing the people of the college. But upon closer examination, she would notice that the demons hold a likeness to the ones who died back at her home. As Meirin watched,the world changes, and she returns to where the slaughter first started. There on the mountain path, the road looked as though it has never been set foot on for years. Before she could even begin to wonder what happened, her nightmare is cut short by three knives and the sudden lose of feeling in her arms.

Althalus Marik

Althalus's nightmare began during his time as an assassin. For the most part, the nightmare went unnoticed; for him, it may just seem like a flashback to a previous assassination. He would arrive to a inn of sorts, and while the assassin continued onwards, Althalus himself may not know why he was here. It was than that he drew a sword that was all too familiar. A little girl suddenly appeared; a splitting image of his sister. She screeched as Althalus' blade was inserted into her body. A man and woman arrived, a splitting image of his father and mother, but both also were cut down. Than came a little boy, who froze in fear of what he saw. But this boy was not Althalus; it was his brother. Only one word escaped before Althalus swung his blade. "Why?" The sword cut his brothers neck in half, enough to sever his trachea but still hanging on by the flesh of his neck. His nightmare came to a close as he heard clapping, and than the voice of his mentor congratulating him on becoming a worthy inheritor of the mask.

Alaira Taenn

Alaira didn't get a nightmare. Some of the people around her might have suddenly fainted or acted strangely, but she was left unaffected. She may have noticed Satori giving her an evil grin however.

Ssarak Dyreackthanose

Ssarak's nightmare began on the raid of the Xhoth village. Ssarak watched from his postion as his fellow warriors assassinated his enemies, before he blew the horn to signal the battle. He along with his brothers in arms clashed with the enemy, much like his memory would have told him. But something was off. His brothers died at his side, but too many at a time. He was losing the battle. As Ssarak continued to fight, he would notice that the scenery was now in his village, and he was no longer the attack, but the defender. The lone defender. Those who had the strength to fight were already killed, those who didn't was left to suffer. Ssarak was than crushed by a burning building, and barely managed to escape, but trapped. As she continued to struggle, he saw his family. His children were stoned, their bodies grinned to a paste by hammers. Enemy warriors forced themselves upon his wife, raping her to death. Ssarak could do nothing but watch. His nightmare ended when a warrior walked up to him with an evil grin, and slowly crushed his head underneath his foot.

Haklo Thalen Desol

Haklo's nightmare did not take him anywhere. He was left in the dinning hall as though nothing had happened. Except for one notable detail; Annabeth, the girl who he had spoken to previously, took out her dagger and stabbed him. She had a devious grin as she pulled out her blade. Soon the entire Dinning hall erupted into chaos, with the various students fighting each other. Haklo still had some energy to live, but he was crushed underfoot by the stampede of people. He only managed to save himself form an early death by dragging his broken body to the wall, where at least the chaos was away from him. But than he began to hear voices in his head. This voice brought pain with it, a pain unlike any blade in his gut. His body was being drained of his mage blood, and it soon occurred to him that it was Malus. The blade was draining him of his blood, and his body began to shrivel and writhe. Haklo's death was mercifully cut short when Althalus stood before him, and straggled what remained of his life out of Haklo.

Annabeth Gulch

Annabeth's nightmare began back at her farm village. Unlike some of the others, she knew that she was in a nightmare. Something inside of her awakened... Her mageblood showed her that this was all an illusion. And now she will live it conscientiously, instead as a mere memory. IT began when she saw her family's home on fire. She could smell the stench fo death and burning flesh as she saw her father dancing like a mad puppet before crumbling to the ground. She turned and saw her youngest brother cut down by outlaws. She turned to run, but came face to face with Rendar. She tried to scream for help, but before she got one word out his head slid off his neck. His body fell as Annabeth was surrounded by the bandits, forced to be aware of the fate that she was about to go through.

She, wholly devoted herself to her. She prayed for the sake of people, and for the happiness of the world... But if the Gods existed, how could this be...? Here in this outlying farm... This beloved place where she works the land with her family and provided for the people... One would not expect... The smell of blood, alcohol and dirt -- the stink of bandits... And now... The girl is filled with the stench of their desire... The girl's faith flows out with the fluids polluting her womb...

When Satori lowered her cup, she smiled politely as she watched the reaction of some of the students. With a wave of her hand she used her magic to conceal the nightmares, but they would not go away. Overtime, her spell would fade, but the memories will live on forever. The false memories she planted in their minds, as a reminder of her power and ability. "May we all live long and prosper."

[WitchChild]

Haklo watched the teachers with Annabeth as they demonstrated their skills. He took a seat once more and watched intently. When the electromancer magnetized just about everything of metal, the noble young man placed a hand on his hairband and emblem so they wouldn't come off by accident. He didn't worry about his dagger though since the sheath was fitted to clasp the weapon tightly as no adventurous opponent would steal it. He placed his elbows on his thighs and his fingers linked right underneath his nose as he observed.

He was silent was he watched, noting other people's reaction as well. His icy blue glare studying the power that each teacher showed. Their manner, their baring. As his father had taught him, to study everyone like a potential enemy before considering them an ally. It might be a form of paranoia but it had kept the Desol family alive and powerful for so long.

When the demonmancy instructor showed his power and things seemed to be going to hell, Haklo wrapped his fingers on the grip of his dagger, flicking the clasp and partially unsheathed the blackened steel. He watched as the demons rampaged yet left the students untouched. Since no one else seemed to be attacking the demons, Haklo deduced that his was part of the demonstration. Sloppy in his mind. This odd orc obviously did not have a subtle mind which wasn't that surprising. His eyes narrowed and he relaxed a bit but kept his vigilance.

It was when Satori, the Psycomancy instructor, was up when Haklo's ears practically perked up. She was the one that would oversee the teaching of psychomancy, the power that would give Haklo the right to become the next Baron of Port Slaughter.
When she made her introduction and raised her glass, Haklo was one of the students that toasted.

After he was hit by the sudden nightmare, he could feel the taste of psychomantic but despite the attacks that he experienced from his father and it wasn't as horrifying as he had experienced but it was still unnervingly realistic. By the time it was over, his brow glistened slightly with sweat but he regained his composure far more quickly than most. This was psychomancy after all. As he used a handkerchief to wipe away the panic induced sweat he thought back at the demonstrations. The rune magic was rather intriguing, the ability to teleport would be invaluable when gaining power at not only the military but trade as well. The other schools were also intruiging to their extent and already Haklo was thinking how not to just improve his own standing in the world gaining such allies, but the ability to monopolize them as well. Aeromancers on boats to speed up ships, teams of geomancers in mines and construction. That teleporter rune magic would, as stated before, be invaluable for number of reasons for spies, assassins and merchants.

The young noble lord pushed the thoughts aside and went to what was most concerning for him, the psychomancy. His father had taught him time consuming mental exercises to push away memories of such attacks but he didn't want to. He went over the false memories and filed them for further reference.

[EliteCommander]

Ssarak Dyreackthanose and Coco Bean

---

Ssarak Dyreackthanose
Ssarak saw his new roomate, Leith, wave him over to his table after everything settled down. Since he presently did not have a chair, he gladly grabbed his drink and walked around the table toward the human across the room. As he was rounding the head of the table, however, the teacher he had been waiting for, the Psychomancy instructor, began her introduction. Ssarak stopped immediately, focusing all of his attention on the demonstration. She called for a toast, one of the Human customs that he was actually familiar with, so he gladly complied, but as soon as he touched his drink, his entire world unfolded before his eyes.

The nightmare was intense, and certainly convincing. By virtue of his blood, he felt a hint of something...familiar at play. Somthing about the world around him felt off, like a much more sophisticated illusion than he was capable of. Not that it mattered, as he did not truly need help to torture himself over the events of that day. The vivid reminders of the attack shook him to his very core. Every regret he had was addressed, and amplified. Though perhaps not accurate to reality, it reflected the responsibility Ssarak felt he had over what transpired. Each of his brothers' deaths had been on his shoulders; the faces on the bodies around him were friends, family, his brothers and sisters in battle. Finally, when the nightmare shifted into his own village, the scene he had imagined a thousand times in his mind played out before him. Though in reality he had not been present for the attack, the fact that he was there in the dream did little to change the outcome. Every part of the attack represented the epitome of all his fears. No one knew exactly how the attack took place, so in the time since the attack, Ssarak had conjured up countless variations of what could have happened in his mind, and Satori's magic played on the worst of those fears. The worst suffering he could imagine for his wife and children occured right in front of him. The physical pain he was experiencint from the battle was irrelevent, for the emotional suffering within him tore at his soul far worse than any blade was capable. Eventually, one of the Xoth warriors that had brutilized his family turned his attention to Ssarak. Just before the warrior crushed in his skull, Ssarak looked up and saw that the warrior was himself.

With a wave of her hand, Satori seemed to rid everyone of their nightmares simultaneously, though Ssarak still felt considerably disturbed. A mere reminder of his past could send Ssarak into a depression, and this was many leagues beyond that. The images of his wife and children still ran through his mind, even as he tried to process what this demonstration meant for him. Looking around, he could very easily see that the other students likely had similar experiences by the way they were acting. Many were understandably upset. On the one hand, Ssarak could not help but to be angry with the Psychomancer for bringing up such pain, but on the other, it was an impressive display of power. To reach into every single students' mind at the same time and create a nightmare, presumably tailored to each students' fears, was far beyond anything he would have thought possible. More importantly, this was a power he had the potential to learn. As he now knew, psychomancy had incredible potential for harm, though it could perhaps be used for a more...benevolent purpose as well. The psychomancy demonstration had brough to the surface of his mind considerable suffering, but by the same token, perhaps he could use it to rid himself completely of that pain? Perhaps he could finally be free of the shackles of his past? No matter his opinion of Satori herself, he desperately wanted to learn whatever she could teach.

Coco Bean
It was all amazing and fantastical... But it was also scary and intimidating. She had expected the demonstrations to just be like the Electromancy one, but... They were different, scarier, more intense. The Vitamancy teacher turned into an enormous beast, a wyvern, if she recalled correctly from one Tree Memory, groing through a whole process of disfigurations and horrible sounds. It'd take her quite a while to get those sounds out of her head, and to beat it off, the teacher decided that it was a good idea to slam her tail onto the floor! Everything shook for a small moment, even Coco's footing.

Then, as if it wasn't enough, Lidda, the teacher, saw it fitting to let out the loudest roar she had ever heard- On the good side, she had never seen her environment better, but it was not without a cost, as a slight rinding filled her head once the roar subsided, and caused a small headache. She couldn't quite catch much of what followed of the Vitamancy demonstration as she did her best to deal with the headache and disorientation.

Coco was back to full attention when the Cyromancy teacher, Frost Windsor as she had introduced herself, spoke about her mageblood. Scary stuff, it was. Ice and cold were things that many Foreas hated, and Coco was certainly not the exception to the rule. The cold just somehow sapped ambition and energy out of her!

She wasn't very surprised when she began to feel the temperature in the room drop. A few degrees were okay with her, even up to a dozen, but it was just so much more than acceptable! By when the cold reached its peak, Coco felt sluggish and groggy, and could hardly move or think, she shivered like a sapling's leaves and felt as helpless as a single tree in the middle of the great plains. Thankfully, it didn't last very long, and eventually things were back to normal.

The rest of the demonstrations flew by quickly enough. A man who flew- Who knew wingless things could fly with the aid of mageblood? An elven male who could make armour out of simple stone and earth! She could catch him mentioning something about one memory of his, and that in turn sprung many questions from Coco, but she knew she had to wait.

Then came Craig Gray, the Noxomancy teacher. That one was strange, as Coco couldn't quite understand what had happened to the knives thrown at the teacher. They just... Vanished once they got closer to the teacher. She guessed it had to do with the way bodies ended up rotting and all that.

Then came chantment. Singing, from what she could tell. Not much happened, though. She could feel the increased light, and gladly welcomed it for as long as it lasted, but she couldn't feel anything else. Next was weaving, presentated by a very good dancer! Coco was excited from the moment she saw the controlled movements of the teacher, and was tempted to join him on stage, but she knew she couldn't. He was doing a demonstration, and even though nothing happened for minutes, when it finally did, she was stunned.

Next was Val, the Rune Master. Coco was especially pumped for this display, as she had the pleasure of meeting Val herself earlier that day! And she didn't disappoint, on she was done with her amazing show, Coco clapped for her and cheered. "Rune Master Val, you're the best!" She had exclaimed, excited to just be close to the nice Rune Master who fixed her speech problem.

She had trouble processing the following two demonstrations- Especifically, Tyrael's demonstrations. She was scared and confused, as sounds suddenly warped everything, and she felt hot and she could listen to the screams of the dying- Terrified, she was. reminded of her close scared with the Syphis, she had chosen to try and ignore the things going on around her, but her leaves and skin betrayed her, and soon she was shivering in stress.

Lucilia's, though, was better. Coco had no idea how the heck she could make plants grow, or even make them kill, but she could, and it just made Lucilia look that much more interesting in Coco's thoughts.

Nightmare

Coco Bean sniffed the air, her leaves slowly puffing out as she picked apart at the scents. Within a few moments, her demeanor had escalated from confusion and anxiety, up to excitement and elation. The variety of scents, and their very nature... They reminded her of home, the great forests, the Great Tree, and especially... Spring. She couldn't help but jump start her excitement by clapping her hands repatedly as she jumped on the spot, quickly jumping over to the nearest patch of flowers. She sniffed them, lightly brushing her face against the petals, and let out a few high-pitched sounds that resembled giggling.

"It's spring! Oh by Xiah, it's Spring!" She had said out loud, softly petting the flower in front of her and quickly standing straight up and still for a moment, before shivering lightly in excitement and exploding in a fit of spins and jumps on her spot.

But she could not keep the dancing forever, even with the sun as bright and the temperature as comfortable as they were, she felt compelled to explore this garden. What other things would she find in it? Another Foreas would be a really good thing! That way, she could finally mark this place as perfect!

Slowly, the pathways in the garden disappeared, but this didn't bother Coco. In fact, it aided in keeping her happy! The more flowersshe found, the better the place was, after all. She spent minutes just jumping and dancing in the field, free of any worries or pains.

Yet for all the fun she had and how oblivious she was to the world, she couldn't help noticing a single figure standing still a dozen meters away from her. The figure just stood there, quietly, and eventually Coco wasn't able to keep dancing, and stood just like the figure, but tilted her head in her curious manner.

She sniffed the air a few times, until she was sure of it- Another Foreas. A male! Were her leaves bigger, she was sure they'd have puffed out more as she skipped over to the male, just to give him a gentle hug once she got there. He retuned the embrace, just as gently, and he nuzzled her cheek.

Destiny, though, was not meant for them to be together that day, though, as ever so slowly, the temperature dropped and the male's embrace turned stiff and cold. At first it was barely noticeable, and Coco didn't mind at all, just focusing on the male's warm and comfortable skin and leaves. But the more time that passed, the harder it got to ignore. Eventually, the male was so cold that her skin burned where his arms wrapped around her, and once she tried to pull away from him, he simply crumbled into frozen pieces.

Coco tried to build him back up desperately, but every time she grabbed one of the pieces of the frozen male, they turned into snow. Eventually in her panic, Coco stopped grabbing pieces and ran away from the spot. Everything she touched, blue in hue from the cold and frozen just like her male, turned into snow. Even when she accidentally tripped over and fell onto a patch of once beautiful flowers and the flowers turned into a small mound of the uncomfortable white surface. She could feel everything around her getting colder and colder, she could hear frozen flowers crumbling and breaking to the soft touch of the wind.

She was horrified, and had she been able to run anymore, she would have, but the cold... It ate at her joints, stopped her from moving as freely, it forced her agile body into a now frozen hunk of plant fibre.

Eventually she heard distorted screams coming from far away, and when she focused on the sounds, she was able to feel them- The Syphis, the great, dark beasts. They were back, one by one consuming everything. Her Foreas brothers and sisters, the ones she had met at the College, even Val! Desperately, she tried to move and stand up, she tried to run, but she couldn't- She was frozen in place, on the small mound of snow, surrounded by frozen flowers.

The Syphis wasted no time, and soon they had consumed everyone, destroyed everything. She had hoped that when one of them came closer, she would scare them like last time ,with Electromancy, but... Nothing happened. As it walked over her form and laid a paw on her cold chest, it opened its maw and attacked.
"Hush."

Coco+Ssarak

Coco found herself shivering like mad. her leaves felt like they were on fire due to the cold, her artifact felt heavy enough to attempt to full her down to the floor and she felt like if she tried to move, she'd snap like a twig. So she did the only thing she thought could work in case of cold, and that was to seek the nearest source of warmth. And that turned out to be tallest lizard she had ever touched. Thankfully, she was conscious enough to figure out she was at least two feet taller than her, and that was great, as it meant he had a lot of warmth to share!

So she, as quickly as she could, moved over to the Esyire and firmly hugged him around the waist, pressing her body against his as she tried to take in the warmth.
Ssarak had been looking in the direction of Leith, so he did not notice when the strange plant creature he had saw in the crowd before came running toward him. It (she?) took him by surprise when she wrapped her arms around him. Under any other circumstances, he would have considered it strange and perhaps tried to separate himself from her, but considering that the entire room had just been a victim of terrible nightmares, he realized she could be confused in some way.

Though still considerably shook up himself, Ssarak had calmed enough not to react too quickly to the plant's hug. He calmly looked down at her and spoke, though he wondered if she was even capable of responding, since she seemed to lack a face. "Do not fear; be calm.Whatever you saw was not real, it was an illusion." He said in as calming of a voice as he could muster, going under the assumption that it was the psychomancy demonstration that led to her frightful reaction. With the sudden shock of what happened, he supposed some students may be confused, especially if they were not familiar with psychomancy.

Coco couldn't find the words to communicate, all her thoughts were scrambled. She felt cold and weak, even though to the touch, she was as warm as she had been when the demonstrations started. She moved not even an inch as the Esyire spoke, her only action being a small shiver. And when he finished speaking, Coco found her words again.

"I'm cold," She said quietly, "and scared."

Ssarak could not argue with the plant creature, as he really did not know what "cold" was for her species. She did indeed feel cold to him, but Esyire were used to higher temperatures than most other races, so his standards of temperature likely would not be the best comparison. "Just...tell me what happened." He requested. He was about to advise her to take a few deep breaths, but he did not exactly know what mechanisms her species used to breathe. Plants would not have lungs, would they?

Coco Inclined her head up towards the Esyire's face and nodded. "There was... There was this beautiful garden and this male and I were in it having fun and then everything froze! The male froze too, and I was so scared and I panicked and tried to heal him, but everything I touched turned to snow! I ran, but it didn't stop, everything was so cold, and when I fell over, I started freezing too..." With every sentence spoken, she pressed herself harder against the Esyire in an attempt to find some comfort.

"And then, then I heard screams, and when I focused and listened, I felt the Syphis consuming everything. My friends, flowers, Val the Rune Master, all of the Foreas! I was even more scared, and then one of them came close to me and told me to hush." She told him quickly, leaves flattened against her skin. As she finished, she nuzzled the Esyire's lower chest and tried to calm down.

Through her surprisingly rapid explanation, Ssarak's suspicions were confirmed. She had definitely experienced a nightmare, and, by her description, one that would be specifically fearful to her. After all, it made sense that a plant would be afraid of the sudden freeze she described, and though he had never heard of these 'Syphis', he assumed they were malicious. Given how tightly she was now gripping him, she certainly seemed afraid, and though dealing with fear was something he had been taught during his training as a warrior, he doubted those methods would be appropriate here. Overall, he was out of his element, but he would at least try to help. "Just...try to remember what happened before that. Satori, the psychomancy instructor, raising a toast. That was her demonstration. She gave you that dream to show her abilities. I know, for I received one as well. It was...frightening, just like yours."

"I..." Coco started, before cutting herself off, thinking hard on what the Esyire just said. It... Did make sense. But the memory was too real- What if it was actually something that happened? But she was alive, and no Syphis had eaten her, so... "... It's just an illusion? But it was so... I was even ready to..." She sighed, nuzzling the Esyire's chest one more time before breakign the embrace and stretching herself. She still felt cold, but if it was just one mean illusion, well... She doubted it could even affect her.

"I-I'm Coco Bean. You're an Esyire, right? I remember some memories of your kind, and the headmaster's form is similar to yours. I, uh, I don't even think you like how I smell, right? Mar didn't, and she's a reptile like you.."

Ssarak let out a breath he had not realized he had been holing when the creature, who called herself 'Coco Bean', released her hold on him. She now seemed to be at one with reality, which was a definite improvement. She asked him about what he was, then about, of all things, her scent. He assumed it made sense to her.

"You smelll like...a dessert?" Ssarak said, taking a few sniffs of the air. She smelled oddly like something he had seen Humans and other races eating from time to time, but that he had never actually tried himself. He much preferred meat. "I would not say your scent is particularly offensive. Humans seem to like it. At any rate, you are correct, I am Esyire, just like the headmaster. What are you, if I may ask?"

"Yes, like chocolate! I'm a Foreas. What's your name?" Coco asked, tilting her head a tiny bit to show her curiosity.

"Oh, of course. My name is Ssarak Dyreackthanose. It is a pleasure to meet you. I have never seen one of your kind before, though I must confess I have not seen half of the races at this college before today." Ssarak answered, glancing around the room at the other students. In a way, he was grateful the Foreas had ran up to him in her panic, as anything that could distract him from the pain of his memories was a blessing.

[Rtron]

Althalus

Althalus had been picking himself up from the ground after laying there for a few moments after his little flying venture. Flying was a novel and enjoyable experience. Landing, or in his case, falling, was far less pleasant. He would certainly be bruised and in pain tomorrow. Picking himself up, muttering curses at his luck to have decided to room with the only student in the school who didn’t have her room ready for something to be stored in, he began looking for alcohol. That was a perfectly respectable solution for pains from falling from the sky, wasn’t it? Althalus thought so, and began heading to the barrels that apparently held the liquor. He only became aware of something coming towards him by the voices of the people around him rising in minor panic, and the rapidly rising heat.

Turning around, he saw a flaming bird heading towards his face! Recoiling, he threw his arms up to protect against what he thought surely meant burns. Much to his surprise, however, the bird flew away at the last second, missing him. Well, that was a pleasant surprise, wasn’t it? Looking towards the teacher’s table for the perpetrator of his ‘attack’, he saw none other than Auriel’s smiling self dropping down from the stage. He grinned to himself, and muttered “Very clever.” With that, he continued on his way towards the barrels. Despite himself, he smiled in childish wonder as it began to snow inside of the building. It was a marvel that he appreciated. It even proved advantageous to him, as he passed a dwarf who had been boasting rather loudly of his ‘never ending flask’ that he had Rune Crafted himself. Apparently, whatever liquid was poured into it would last far longer than the size of the flask hinted at.

The dwarf was too busy staring upwards at the forming icicles to notice that his prized (and thank fully empty) flask was being slipped from his loose grip. Chuckling, Althalus pocketed it in his armor, fully intending upon using it.

As he drew ever closer to the barrels, the Aeromancy teacher did his display. Specifically, he flew and landed far more easily and willingly than Althalus himself had. Such as shame I’m not an Aeromancer. The assassin thought sarcastically, weaving through the crowd to get closer to his goal. At least there hadn’t been any more magnetic tricks. That would have been uncomfortable, to put it mildly. The Geomancy teacher was efficient, if simple. His journey towards the barrels was halted as the Noxomancy professor stepped up. This was his blood after all. Much to the assassin’s disappointment, the man was aligned with Pestilence, but at least he was going to demonstrate decay!

An impressed, low, whistle escaped Althalus as he watched the man turn daggers into dust. And he did it all with only a simple touch. If that was the kind of power that awaited him, Althalus couldn’t wait for the teaching to begin. What? It would make getting to his targets all that easier, rather than going through the arduous process of picking locks or hiring someone to pick the locks for him, or leave door opens, etc. The Chantment butterflies were pretty and interesting, but otherwise didn’t hold his interest as he continued through the crowd. The weaving bit nearly dripped him as the ground beneath his feet suddenly cracked open, and Althalus reminded himself to make sure that if he had to kill a Weaving master, make sure the target died within the first shot. The Runemaster was amusing, but he could always hire runecrafters rather than learn the skill himself, no matter how useful it seemed.

He suddenly screeched to a stop as the Demon from before…summoned more Demons. Not only that, he let them rampage after declaring something about his power and that they must become stronger than the Demons or be killed by the Demons. Althalus himself was too busy eyeing said Demons warily as they tore apart staff, and leaving the students alone, interestingly enough. His knives couldn’t do much to save the poor bastard’s lives, but they might be able to distract the Demons to save his own, should they start attacking. “What a nice fellow you are.” Althalus murmured amidst the screams from the staff and the students.

And then, the Demons were subdued and killed. By trees, no less. Althalus couldn’t keep the smirk from his face as he watched Tree giants and roots kill the Demons, and the damage caused by the Demonomancy Teacher Tyrael was fixed. By this time, he had reached the barrels of Alcohol and was filling the flask with a lovely little whiskey from Port Slaughter, simply known as Lunar. The flask was filled, and he was about to seal it, when the Psychomancy teacher stood and called for a toast. Call it paranoia, but Althalus decided against doing as she wished. While he knew that Psychomancers couldn’t poison anything, except your mind, he didn’t trust what she was going to do.

Of course, in the end, it made no difference.

He first became aware of the fact that she had done something when he felt himself wearing his mask. Still, it wasn’t anything to be worried about. He seemed to be going about business as usual, for him at least, this time in Port Slaughter. Just him, alone, going to kill a target. It was when he walked into an inn that he began to get uneasy. It looked oddly familiar…and then he drew the sword. Even if he hadn’t recognized that fucking blade, alarm bells would have gone off in his head. He didn’t use a sword. As it was, queasiness began to rise up in him. Queasiness that immediately turned to horror as his little sister appeared before him, and without a second thought he plunged the blade into her body. He tried to fight. In his mind he shouted, he struggled, he tried to make it stop. It didn’t. The blade flashed once, twice. Thud. Thud. His parent’s bodies hit the floor, one after the other. Killed by him.

He was howling in helplessness now. Grief and horror and a stomach churning disgust roiled throughout him. Then came his part in this horrific replay of his parent’s murders. Only, rather than it being himself, it was his brother. The blade swung once more and blood sprayed outwards, and his brother’s body collapsed to the ground and darkness devoured the image. And all Althalus could hear was clapping and that bastard who tried to kill him congratulating him.

When he finally came back to the real world, he was on his knees, breathing raggedly. The flask was held in a tight grip, so much so that it turned his knuckles white. At least it still had Lunar in it. He had a feeling he was going to need it. All around him, he heard sobbing, screaming, retching. Sounds of terror and horror, of pain and despair. Then he heard the bitch’s voice, wishing that they’d all live long and prosper. Snarling a curse, he got unsteadily to his feet, hand going to one of his throwing knives. All around him he could hear people slowly recovering, terror turning to anger. Good. Psychomancers could detect thoughts and emotions, and the multitude of hate and possibly even death wishes around him would cover him nicely.

People were already beginning to leave, either permanently or just to their rooms remained to be seen. Althalus didn’t need to wind up for throwing his knife, not at this distance. And besides, it’d be too much of a physical indicator of what he planned. Subtly, using the crowd around him to hide most of his motions, Althalus threw his knife at Satori. As soon as the blade left his hand, he turned around, leaving with a crowd of other students. He didn’t see the knife stop a good foot his target, and then fly towards the outstretched hand of Uicle like a loyal little dog. He didn’t see the teacher’s reactions, and didn’t notice that he was passing right by Mar, almost crashing shoulders with her. He just kept seeing the nightmare replay in his mind, warring with the actual memory.

He left the Dining Hall, sat down with his back against a wall, and put his head in his hands. It was better than letting the shaking show.

[Toxic Diamond]

Aruna watched all the shows with wonder in her eyes, some with more than others, but with all she marveled at what the mageblood could do. As she watched she eagerly awaited the Noxomancy teacher's turn. She wondered what magic she might be capable of, she still didn't know if she was capable of magic. When he walked up to the stage she felt her scales itch with excitement.
When the first knife was thrown her eyes widened as he dissolved the knife mid-air, turning it into rust. She quickly ran through the list of ways such a talent would come in handy during ny type of fight. She could remove the enemies' weapons, possibly even remove the enemies themselves . And only with one of the possible paths! The next demonstrations went by in a blur as she excitedly thought of new ways to use the ability of decay.
Then, when a teacher she thought was the runes teacher stepped down, The demonmancy teacher called out his name and the room began to change. Immediately she was on edge again, she drew her knife and held it in her left hand with the blade running along her forearm. She also dropped into a defensive stance. She was glad she did because demons began to appear and attack. She didn't worry about why the demons were attacking, or if something had gone wrong with the summoning, she just reacted.
Aruna kicked an imp hard and it flew into the face of a much larger demon temporarily blinding it. The larger demon was humanoid shaped, luckily, so she pounced with her powerful legs, springing into the air as a result. When she was airborne she snapped her wings open and flipped her knife in hand so that the blade was facing forward. Just as the large demon pryed the confused imp off of it's face she stabbed her knife into the top left six eyes.
As it wailed she kept hold on her knife and pressed her feet against the demon's chest before kicking off and doing a backflip, then landing in a defensive crouch. The demon howled at her and glared as if it would like nothing more than to rip her limb from limb, but it just howled at her in frustration and turned away to terrorise someone else. At first she was confused, then she realized that all the students were not being attacked.
As she noticed this roots began to grow out of the ground and savagely murder the demons. Aruna looked to the teachers table to see what she assumed was the hebamancy teacher. Then the teacher confirmed Aruna's suspicions by introducing herself. She was surprised. She had assumed that herbamancy would be useless in a fight. She had been astoundingly wrong.
As the room began to shift back Aruna leaned against the wall again, her knife still in her drawn hand. She was tense and more watchful than she had been than at the beginning of the feast. Now suspicious of everything and expecting anything. Except for what actually happened.
When the psychomancy teacher came up ans introduced herself Aruna ignored her mostly. She focused on exits and possible enemies, or magical attacks. When the pink haired teacher called for them to raise their drinks, she quickly grabbed an empty cup from a table and pretended to drink, but as soon as the rim touched her lips she was suffocating. Drowning. Fighting against some unknown pressure pushing in on her from all sides. She felt an opening in her entrapment, but it was to small for her whole body, so she used her strength to rip it wide enough to escape. But when she emerged she saw that she was covered in blood, and she had just emerged from the dying form of her mother. She felt the air leave her, and she fell to her knees. She tried to say she was sorry, that she didn't mean to kill her own mother.
Before she could say anything though, she was whisked away. She was five again, wearing only a white dress and carrying only a dull kitchen knife. Before her stood a large, gray, red eyed wolf. It lunged at her, but she rose her knife to stab it in the ribs, but her knife snapped on it's fur and it proceeded to rip into her. She then lived through every fight she had ever had in her life, and there had been many, but she lost them all. At the end she simply sat broken and ripped to pieces as Neo and Ssarak talked about how to dispose of her parts. All the while she ran through her head that she had been right, but she wasn't careful enough, and now she would die..
When she woke she was trembling and tears silently slid down her face. She leaned heavily against the wall and stared at the floor with unseeing eyes, not bothering to check her surroundings.

[Fallenreaper]

Aramir, Lyris and Mar~I~Rtron, Pyromania99 and Fallenreaper

Mar’s eyes shifted to note another, a winged Alanian, seem to be staring at her. Her eyebrow raised in question when she gave the Snow Elf back her hunting bow and heard her question about her race. The Naga didn’t let her surprise or awe reach her face during the performance as she addressed the inquiry with her answer. “Yes and you’re an Alanian.”

Aramir continued to stare at her bow for a few moments before standing, to busy trying not to fall to her knees in relief again to make a coherent response. She took the bow back, looking over it carefully to make sure there was nothing wrong with it, even aestheticly speaking. She put a lot of time, effort, and care into this bow and she would be damned if it was going to be broken or damaged while she still watched over it. Once her selfish desire to make sure her bow was in it's original condition was satisfied, she bleatedly remembered her manners. "Thank you for catching my bow. It's very important...to..." Aramir lost her train of thought as she watched fire bird sweeping through the hall, eyes wide with awe.

Guiltily, she jerked herself back to the Naga. "To me." She smiled up at the Naga, trying to ignore Mar's lack of clothing, though the blush creeping up her neck and cheeks proved she was failing. "My name's Aramir. Pleased to meet you."

With her mind trying to focus on a couple of things at once like the interaction between the naga and the elf and when the Aeromancy teacher would show up on stage, Lyris was taken by surprise when a giant bird of fire flew through the sky. Looking back to the two in the apparent bow exchange, Aramir had just introduced herself to the naga. Lyris wondered if she should too, but decided to just hang back, even though the naga had acknowledged her existence. "I'll just observe dialogue exchange a bit." She whispered to herself.

"Odd, most bipeds I've met tend to make a speculate of themselves." Mar stated simply as she recalled Coco, a rather chatty Foreas. One she had to send away to tend to herself, the plant like creature seemed close to withering and rather sluggish. She then turned down to the Snow Elf that had introduced herself:Aramir. "Mar and it's interesting to meet you."

Mar wasn't sure if that was the correct greeting but the need to add something on at the end was something she felt was best. Even when speaking bluntly for was interesting to meet a Snow Elf because she had never met one before and Aramira was officially the first Snow Elf she had contact with. The onl reason she knew what Aramir was had been because she heard of such creatures though the few humans she encountered.

Aramir, still resolutely trying to not let Mar's state of clothing affect her, and failing, kep her smile on her face. Interesting was certainly the word for a desert dweller who towered over her to be meeting her. Regardless, she pressed on, putting the bow safely on her back(and hoping that no one else would decide to do a metal attraction trick). "So, what mageblood brings you to the College?" Who knows? Maybe they would have the same blood. Which would be interesting, seeing as she only knew one other student, and that was the female Forest Elf who had done the demonstration.

The Snow Elf noticed how Lyris put herself in the background of the conversation, whispering to herself. Even the low mumble of the crowd was quiet compared to the howling winds of the Plains, and she picked up Lyris's words easily, shaking her head slightly at them.

"From what Tyrael says, I have Vitamancy. It seems to have something to do with bones or body as I have been told. It seems it can crush in an attacking Male Naga''s skull easily though it left me exhausted afterwards and..." Mar trailed off yet she finished the sentence in her head. It left her temporarily banished. It would likely not be best to tell any farther details, one that would likely end up with her unable to make friends as Tyrael suggested. At least there might be one she could interact with easily and judging from her earlier look over the hunting bow, the Snow Elf kept it in good condition.

Aramir blinked once, her embarasment forgotten for the moment. Mar crushed another Naga's skull? With Vitamancy. Which, if her scant knowledge wasn't lying to her, was the class that went with her own skill, Pyromancy. Rather than prying further into why Mar crushed another Naga's skull, she commented herself. "My own is Pyromancy. I managed to set several tents and clothing on fire during...during..during a conflict in my tribe. I soon left after that, heading for the College." She didn't mention that there wasn't anything to return to. Just corpses beneath the snow...

"Anyways! Sorry for running into you when you caught my bow. I was just worried about it. My only hunting bow, after all. Though, where I'll be hunting in the College, is a question I need answered." She did mean to find that answer. Even after she left the Frozen Plains she had kept hunting. Old habits die hard and she wasn't planning on stopping anytime soon. It wa simply a matter of where.

"There are other places to hunt if one is willing to look around. You merely have to know where and how to hunt it. Usually I've hunted in the Ravine but that is miles away now, something I rather miss." Mar noted the wishing in the small biped's voice and added, struggling a bit. "...You could hunt with me. There's no Nagas like me around and it's not traditional to hunt alone..."

She then started to include more. "Your Pyromancy could end up coming in handy if we run into trouble."

Aramir visibly brightened at the offer. "I would be honored to. Hunting alone isn't done where I come from either." Not to mention, it usualy ended up in horrible death. But, that was something that didn't need to be mentioned. At the mention of her Pyromancy, she gave a kind of sheepish shrug. "The most I can do right now is a fairly useless small ball of flames. So if we ever get into real trouble, I don't think we'll be able to rely on my magic." The Ravine...she had hunted there, a few times. Entrances were few in the Frozen Plains, but they were always a good source of assured, if dangerous, hunting.

"We'll have to practice together though. I don't want to accidentally shoot you with my bow."

"It would at least provide a distraction at best then should we chew off more then we can hunt. Unlikely but possible. A few practice runs wouldn't hurt as I'm not in tune with your body movement and certian it differs from Naga." Mar said and her eyes shifted to note the Pyromancy display ended, flowing off into a new one: Vitamancy. Needless to say her excitment was quickly dulled when she noted the choice was shape shifting. It was something she didn't feel served her much purpose as a Naga, mainly because it was deceitful and unnatural for one to change a natural shape.

"I prefer to hunt for my own dinner but I understand not all bipeds enjoy that."

It took Aramir a moment to respond, as she was to busy staring at the Vitamancy display. Magic was powerful, certainly. Ripping her eyes from the display of a woman turning herself into a dragon, Aramir responded. "Let's avoid that situation then, hmm? I would rather not rely on a magic I have little control over to keep me from be coming the killed rather than the killer." At the Naga's final statement, she shrugged. "I've had to hunt to ensure that the tribe eats, as well as myself. Admittedly, I find it rather nice to not to have to hunt to eat," She gestured towards the food all around them. "But I'm no stranger to the notion."

"So, how do you hunt?"

Mar's eyes watched a moment longer for the Vitamancer teacher to withdraw, allowing another, smaller biped that was the same race as her current focus to take the stage. Her ears, no longer interested in the demos now that her own was over, narrowed upon Aramir's voice. "Biped's are unusual to me, something I'm finding out more and more. As for how I hunt, it depends on the prey-

The Naga's conversation was cut short when the temperature dropped rapidly. Her breath already misted and her body tinted a little blue, unable to shiver to produce heat, as her arms curled up to rub what she lost back in. Her hand leaned into the wall just to steady her balance, her body usually underground during cold nights in Yarsomere. However she normally had a type of warning which allowed her to prepare but for a strange reason, the temperature in the room was rapidly decline at an unexplained rate and one she didn't like.

Aramir listened long enough to confirm that the Snow Elf speaking was the Cyromancy teacher, and then turned her attention back to Mar. Much to her alarm, the Naga suddenly cut herself off when her breath began to mist and she turned slightly blue. Aramir herself didn’t notice the rapid drop in temperature all that much, as it wasn’t approaching the levels of cold she had grown up with. Glancing around she looked for something that would warm the Naga quickly. Obviously, she couldn’t just share her body heat, being as small as she was. Before she could do much more than look around, however, three human sized beings that appeared to be made of pure fire gathered around Mar, beating back the cold remarkably fast. So much so that Aramir had to take a step back, the heat growing too much for her, being used to the colder temperatures, to bear. Glancing around, she saw more of the same Golems around other cold blooded students who were adversely affected.

When the temperature finally rose to normal levels, the golems retreated back from wherever they came and Aramir approached Mar once more. “Are you okay?” She asked, concerned. It was a good thing that someone, Uicle she assumed, was prepared for Mar’s and other’s reactions. Otherwise things might have gotten…interesting. One thing was certain. Cyromancy was something that she would have to be wary of. A small smirk crossed her face. All magic was something she should be wary of.

Mar’s form had struggled not to fall down but it was hard, her body seemed to stiffen against her will and every part wanted to constrict into a ball. Her instinct was screaming for her to head deep into the ground while she knew it was pointless. Mainly cause the floor was mostly stone and impossible to dug through, unlike the softer and grainer sand in Yarsomere. Orange figure started to edge out of the kitchens where they gathered around the creatures less tolerant to the cold weather. Their flesh sizzled and crackled, alight with flames that seemed to waft off heat for her body to gorge on. Soon enough her body started to heat up. The color return and her arms stopped moving, feeling some signs of life return when the room was warm again causing the Fire Golems to retreat back into the kitchen. Her eyes flickered towards Aramir’s question.

“Yes…” Mar started, her voice unchanged by the event though her skin still felt icy. “I’m usually underground when the night temperatures hit and wasn’t ready for that.”

Aramir sighed in relief. At least the Naga was okay, given the fact that she had been turning blue before the Snow Elf’s eyes. “I can imagine not being prepared for it. Cold doesn’t come that fast this far to the south, does it?” The rest of the demonstrations passed in silence as the Naga continued to recover from the sudden flash freeze that had struck her. Aramir herself stared in unabashed awe as teacher after teacher displayed a new talent, a new level of magic she hadn’t thought possible. Well. Many things were being proven possible tonight, weren’t they? She was impressed and amazed by the magical displays until Tyrael stepped up, that is. Aramir had noticed staff members leaving to clean up some of the mess that teachers had created. They appeared to be regular staff members of the school but something was…off about them. She couldn’t place her finger on it, but something seemed wrong.

Before she could stare attempt to puzzle out what was wrong any longer, the room around them began to change. It turned more hellish, more unnatural. Aramir bit her bottom lip to prevent a cry of alarm and horror escaping her as demons suddenly rose and appeared, attacking the staff members who had already began to die as soon as the room changed. Aramir’s first reaction was pure instinct, quickly stringing the bow, drawing and firing an arrow. Of course, her bow was meant to be hunting the thick skinned animals of the Frozen Plains, not the armored demon she shot it at. It pierced the armor, but wasn’t strong enough to do anything more than irritate the creature much like a fly would annoy her. Oddly enough, it didn’t attack her though it clearly wanted to.

Rather than waste more arrows, as the one she had fired was already burning in the Inferno, Aramir unstrung her bow with shaking hands and could do nothing more than watch as the demons killed the staff members. And only the staff members in the Dining Hall. No students, no kitchen staff, no one else was slain but those subtly wrong staff members in the hall. Still, it wasn’t pleasant to watch demons kill people. “Gaurot watch over their souls.” She whispered, ignoring the teacher that was at the table, who had summoned them. And then, it was suddenly over. The room returned to normal, but the demons continued to rampage amongst the staff and anything else they could touch. That is, until roots and trees began to sprout and kill them, one by one.

Aramir glanced sharply over to see the Herbamancy teacher giving her display. Not the one she planned, I’m willing to bet.. Still, the demons were killed and the damage was repaired. Aramir smiled in relief. At least that nastiness was over, and she was certainly glad that she didn’t have Tyrael as a teacher. He seemed…uniquely unpleasant. Before she could do much more than that, however, the Psychomancy teacher stepped up. Aramir didn’t have a toast to make, her cup having floated to the roof a while ago, she still smiled as the toast was given.

And then she felt blackness surrounding her.

When she opened her eyes again, she was in an icy tomb surrounded by corpses. Much to her horror, she recognized these corpses. They were the gaunt, skeletal corpse of her tribe members who had starved to death. Sobbing, Aramir tried to climb out of the pile of corpses. She didn’t know how she got her, but she had to leave. She couldn’t take their blank, accusing gazes, the ribs she could clearly count on all of them. She didn’t make it very far before a hook descended from the sky and drew her out, only to be immediately thrust into the battle that had torn her tribe apart. Once more she was forced to fight for her life against those she had loved and trusted. The only thing different this time was that she killed indiscriminately, picking up a dagger to better gut those who she should have been protecting or saving.

When the dagger was ripped out of her grasp, stuck in the chest of another girl she had grown up with, she picked up a club. Sobbing and screaming at herself to stop all the while, she wielded it with surprising efficiency, despite all the wounds she received while doing so. An arrow pierced through the back of her thigh. A sword cut across her chest. A club cracked against her knee. Hot blood poured from the multitude of wounds, blinding her and filling her existence with pain. Death would have been a blessing at this point. Still she fought on, heading towards the fires in the distance. The blood in her eyes didn’t stop her from seeing her club crash against a fleeing child’s skull, the cry of pain and the sound of the skull cracking lost in the rapidly gather flames. She sobbed harder, tears mingling with blood and making a pink stream down her face.

She stepped into the flames, and knew only numbness.

Aramir awoke curled in a ball on the ground, and immediately threw up whatever pitiful contents her stomach had been carrying. The Snow Elf managed to bring herself to her knees, away from the scorch mark she had made on the ground and the puddle of vomit she had spewed. She felt sick, tired, and horrified. She began sobbing again, even as Satori wished them well.

Mar watched the many displays of magic play out with mild interest as she was given allowed time for her body to recover finally when Tyrael’s came around and her head snapped up at his loud voice. Naturally it was hellish scene that greeted her eyes. The room twisted and warped into something dark, her eyes watched the heat rise as it continued to play out. She watched staff members torn to pieces and spared a glance towards the Fallen Orc. Something didn’t seem right about it all. At least from what she knew of him, her body still until Aramir let off an arrow notched in her bow and right into the nearest demon. She didn’t like the idea of provoking trouble because she had nothing to defend herself with. Other than her coils and that needed them to be much close, not wanting to believe the Fallen Orc would allow harm to happen in his presence.

Soon enough it ended much to her relief. The fight quickly quelled by the Herbamancy teacher, her magic edged into the wooden tables and utensils which quickly sprang into root and plants. When the last of the demons ended the damage was repaired. It was impressive display, Mar thought and her eyes still fixed upon Tyrael as if she sought a wordless explanation.

The psychomancy teacher raised her glass and made a toast, something simple and odd compared to the other teachers. Then something seemed to have happened. Most the students stopped in middle of their toast and their eyes seemed glazed over in a dreamlike state. Something deep inside Mar felt like hissing a warning, her eyes flickered to the other huntress within the room.

First thing she noticed was Aramir didn’t act right. The Snow Elf’s eyes closed and shifting uncomfortably, her lips moved in what seemed to be a nightmarish fit. Soft, barely audible panic whispered to the air causing the Naga’s neck hairs to tingle in fear. Mar’s head panned the scene to take in similar displays or far worse ones. A few students seemed to share her confusion, their own eyes seemed to also see the cause until some rested upon the teacher. At the head table, the Eysire, Khan, at first appeared uncomfortable and quickly enough grew into concern. Aramir’s mumbles got worse until they turned into heavy sobbing, accompanied by others, before her body gave out from under her. Instantly Mar’s hand shot out and kept the small Elf from hitting the floor too hard, the small biped’s body curled into an infant ball towards the end.

Angry was thick in the air even though the event had only happen with a moment, her mind distracted when Althalus and other shoved right by her. She let out a warning hiss but he seemed not to care. Inside, Mar was torn between retrieving and discovering what had occurred and the current Elven ball at her tail. The latter happened to win as Althalus would seek her out soon enough.

“Aramir…Aramir, what happened?” Mar started to ask.

[Konan375]

Leith watched the Psychomancy teacher warily as she stepped up for her demonstration. He had heard some rather unpleasant stories about Psychomancers as he grew up. While he was living with Rehm, he had heard of a rogue Psychomancer who forced a child to kill her family from one of Rehm's customers. Luckily, the Psychomancer was caught and the last that Leith had heard, the Psychomancer was in Shimmerstone awaiting his verdict.

The Psychomancer, Satori, called for a toast, and while Leith didn't have any of his juice left, since it had been quite suddenly deposited on his head, he raised his cup and pretended to take a drink.

And in that moment, he experienced the power of a Psychomancer.

Leith relived his childhood, yet something was different. He made friends when he was young. Throughout all the games he played, all the fun he had with his friends, something felt wrong. Leith tried his hardest to figure out what the problem was, but in time, he gave up on it. He and his friends were approached by a man that looked like a living shadow. Wrongness radiated off the man, and when the shadows lifted from his face, revealing skin the colour of bone and eyes as red as blood. Leith's friends ran away from the vampire, but Leith stood frozen in fear. The man rushed up to Leith, and everything went black.

When his consciousness returned to him, Leith witnessed his mother run through by a sword. The next few moments went by quickly. His father was dead, and his friends were the culprits. They believed him to be a vampire. Leith shook his head. That wasn't true! He wasn't a vampire. He was just born looking like one. His anger rose as he looked at who he thought were friends. He had explained this several times when they were younger. When they, in their childish belief, thought him to be a vampire and-wait! Leith paused. He made friends when he was younger and they never attacked him out of fear, yet Leith also remembered these same friends chasing him away whenever he tried to interact with them. His reverie was shattered when pain exploded from the middle of his back. The pain forced its way towards his chest, causing him to look down. The tip of a sword was peeking out from beneath his sternum. As he struggled to breathe, he collapsed and came under assault by his friends. Time seemed to have no meaning, and after what seemed like an eternity, the beating stopped, and he was taken somewhere and chained to a wall.

After a while, Leith heard footsteps. He could feel the blood drain from his face as two men walked into the room. He had hoped to never see these men again. While one of the men looked uncomfortable, the other had a wicked smile on his face. His eyes were shining with excitement as he unrolled an old-looking leather sleeve. There were various metal instruments on the sleeve, and all of them looked like they were designed to inflict pain.

They were.

After what seemed like hours of pain, the men started to stack firewood underneath Leith. With a smile, one of the men grabbed at torch off one of the sconces while the other doused the wood in a foul-smelling liquid.. He walked over to Leith and whispered in his ear.

"Let's try this one more time," he said as he tossed the torch onto the pile of wood.

Leith's cup slipped from his hand and fell to the floor, making a dull clanking noise as it made contact. His heart was thumping against his chest, and he felt like he was going to pass out. He was soaked in sweat. More-so than when the buzzing in his head turned to shrieking. There were various screams and shouts from around the room. After taking a glance around the room, Leith saw that many people were pale, and some had even passed out. He looked at Ssarak, who was making his way over to the table before the demonstration started, just in time to see a small, plant-like creature grab onto him. Leith chuckled lightly and turned towards the doors. He needed to get away from the dining hall for a while. After another glance around the room, Leith figured that it would be at least a little while before the next demo started.

When he was out of the dining hall, he walked towards the wall opposite of the doors and leaned on it. The wall cooled his hand and forehead. With a sigh, Leith turned around, slid down the wall and closed his eyes to think about what had just transpired.

The buzzing in his head started to grow louder, which caused Leith to open his eyes. The man dressed in black was leaning against the opposite wall several feet away from him, with his head in his hands. Leith really wanted to know what caused the buzzing in his head to get louder whenever this guy got close, but he thought that it really wouldn't be a good time to see. Instead, Leith sighed loud enough for the man to hear, and spoke

"Well, that was an interesting demonstration, wasn't it?" he asked dryly.

[Sundered Echo]

Auriel Lavai

After her own part in the demonstrations Auriel was feeling somewhat drained. It’d been a harrowing day and she wasn’t used to using her mageblood at all, much less for something so impressive. She immediately made her way back to the barrels to get something strong to drink, only loosely paying attention to the other demonstrations.

By the time the demonmancy demonstration arrived, she’d downed a tankard of Dwarven ale already. For a moment she wondered if it was the drink affecting her vision as the room shifted to the appearance of the Inferno, but she wasn’t normally so much of a lightweight. No, it had to be the demonmancy teacher, and the crazy bastard seemed to have lost control.

Her thoughts were distracted quite suddenly as an Imp leapt over her and turned to make a face, sticking its tongue out at her. Her hands immediately went for her weapons. The demons expression changed quite drastically as Auriels axe swung at its neck. It ducked barely in time, but that didn’t save it from the lower slash from her dagger. Its infernal blood poured out of the deep gash for a moment before it was sucked screaming back into the inferno. Moments later, all the other demons were being torn apart by roots and tree-creatures, and when Auriel looked around the room again, she saw that none of the students were harmed by the demonstration.

She decided to pay a bit more attention to the teachers table then, and sat down just in time to see a pink haired teacher raising a toast. Auriel, of course, went with it, raising her own tankard in the air before bringing it to her lips. That turned out to be a mistake as the moment the golden liquid passed her lips the world around her changed and shifted.

She was on her knees in chains in the centre of her village in Ghannos. Every house and tree nearby was charred and blackened from fire, yet still retaining their shape perfectly. A crowd formed of all the people of her village surrounded her, forming a circle around her. Every one of them was silent, directing cold, accusing looks at her. She tried to say that she didn’t do it, that it wasn’t supposed to be like this, but instead felt her face twist into a satisfied smirk.

With that, Siala stepped out of the crowd and strode slowly and purposefully towards her, clad in the ceremonial armour of a Warden of Ghannos and bearing a heavy recurve bow almost as tall as her, a viciously barbed Shrieking arrow already knocked. She bent at the waist and brought her face close to Auriels, to whisper in her ear. “Run prey, run.”

Auriel lept up then, her chains seeming to fall away. She broke into a sprint and the crowd parted before her. In moments she was clear of the village and among the burnt husks of the trees. The moment she thought she was not being followed, she heard the sound of a Shrieking arrow as it sped through the air towards her.

The first arrow sped past her arm, the barbs grazing over the scars left from the first time she ran. This time, instead of cutting her lightly, a great and deep gash was torn into the flesh of her arm. She cried out and stumbled, but kept running. The second arrow skimmed over her leg, tearing at her clothes and flesh. She cried out again and kept running, now with an uneven gait. Once more, an arrow swooped past her, this time its barbs cut her ankle down to bone. She screamed in pain and fell, the ash covered forest floor rushing up to meet her.

She slowly managed to roll over, sending sharp jolts of pain through her body as she did so. Now on her back, she could see Siala standing over her, disappointment etched into her face. The huntress-warden raised her bow and slowly drew back the string, this time with a simple straight-headed piercing arrow knocked. Siala released the arrow once it was fully drawn, the massive dining hall swimming back into focus as the arrow pierced her breast and cut to her heart.

The snap back to reality was sudden and jarring. Auriels free hand went straight to the faintly visible thin scar on her arm, feeling for wounds. To her immediate relief she found none, and even though she could not feel any injury her hand also quickly checked the spot the final arrow had supposedly impacted. Nothing. It had felt so real, but she knew that events had not come to pass in that way, and given that she seemed unharmed now, she determined that it was an illusion of some kind.

An extremely unpleasant illusion.

Auriel glared at the pink haired woman on stage even as the illusory memory competed with the real thing, throwing her thoughts into disarray. As if to add a final insult to the injury the psychomancy ‘teacher’ Satori then wished everyone a long, happy life.

Auriels tankard came down hard on the wooden table, a good amount of liquid sloshing out as it did. She stood slowly and with measured movements before walking up towards the teachers table, light on her feet but fairly naturally. Only once there were only a few meters between her and the pink-haired bitch who’d decided to make her live out her worst nightmares did Auriel act. She whipped her dagger out of its sheath in a reverse grip even as her feet left the ground in a bounding leap, animalistic rage in her eyes. She intended nothing less than to spill Satori’s lifeblood across the stage.

No sooner had she begun her leap, however, than she felt the familiar sensation of bark against her skin, combined with the unpleasant feeling of all her forward motion being suddenly and completely arrested. She cast her head about quickly to locate what exactly was holding her back and saw roots twisting about her arms holding her in position. Mages. They’d be the death of her.

[Rtron]

Uicle

He watched the proceedings relatively calmly, even chuckling in amusement as he witnessed a student being carried to the sky by the Electromancy display. The only reason he wasn't flying himself was because of a preemptive rune being carved into his armor. Talking to teachers about what their dispaly was going to be turned out to be helpful, actually. He was pleased with himself for having stationed his Fire Golems at the ready. Otherwise several students might have become icicles rather than just chilled and impressed. For the most part, the display of the magebloods seemed to be going relatively well, even if he had to put up with Justine seemingly losing the need to breathe. He only began to be concerned when Tyrael started sprouting demons from the walls, and killing what appeared to be staff members. But, a quick glance through his Golems showed that all of the staff on duty for the event were in the kitchen, quite alive and not being torn apart by demons. Because of that, and the fact that they weren't attacking the students, he remained silent. Lucilia quickly cleaned up the mess left by the demons rampaging, and then it was Satori's turn. He should have stopped her there. Perhaps it was just a bad feeling, or maybe it was because he had become so good at spotting and causing suffering during the years he had served Aarem, but he knew something was going to happen. Something bad.

And he was proven right. Most of the student population in the Dining Hall was suddenly thrown into comas where they sobbed, screamed, cried out, or just twitched. And, these being novices whose magic is largely enslaved to their emotions, some of them began unconsciously lashing out. The teachers on duty managed to keep the damage to a minimum, thankfully. Those students that collapsed from overexerting their blood where taken out by Uicle's wind golems to the infirmary. As Satori released the students from their nightmare's, Uicle spoke. "Perhaps, we should concentrate on not alienating and harming the students, hmm? Some of them look like they might hold a grudge."

Nothing but his emotions that he was careful to keep from showing publicly(easy when you're just a suit of armor), and the studied calm in his tone, betrayed his anger. He may have been the prime source of much suffering for many years, but that didn’t mean he enjoyed it. He only barely noticed the flash of silver as a knife was thrown at Satori. With a look, he gave it life and stopped it a foot from Satori's chest. Whoever had thrown it was lost in the crowd leaving the hall. Uicle somehow doubted the person who had thrown the knife was sticking around after an act like that. As the knife came to his hand and landed in it, hilt first, Uicle said mildly, "I believe this makes my point rather well, don't you?" To Khan, he said, "After they've calmed down and I've done my, now assuredly brief, demonstration, I'd suggest sending them to their dorms immediately afterwards." Alcohol, terror, and anger never mix well.

Glancing over at the sound of wood splintering and being manipulated, he saw the Forest Elf who had helped Xeric with her display being restrained from murdering Satori. "Satori? Lucilia? Could one of you make the students calm, at least? Happy would be best, but calm would do just as well." He asked. While they could doubtlessly control any more violence that sprouted up from the students, he was far more concerned with them hurting themselves or others. Riots were usually nasty. Magical riots were worse.

[Lucius Cypher]

Teachers

Satori smirked, even looking at Althalus as he threw his knife. Even if it was a subconscious reaction, even amount the crowds, she knew it was him. And she just smiled as the knife fell harmlessly. She than suddenly appeared in her seat, her illusion now dropped. "They have to realize the dangers that is and always will be present. I simply done it in a way that I could do it best." Satori quietly sipped her tea as she scanned the entire dinning hall for those who had ill intentions for her. It was many, to no surprise. She simply sat quietly as she sipped her tea.

Tyrael knew of Satori's demonstration and was prepared to have his demons act. When Althalus threw his dagger he nearly had one of the demons crush him, but Lucilia intervened. They wordlessly looked at each other before Tyrael called off his demons. "I had thought the students would be made of sterner stuff. But let them run if they do not have the will to face their nightmares." It was a harsh and borderline stupidly violent opinion, but for the orc it was the only one that would allow his students to live. Satori might have done what she did for a multitude of reasons, but at least she intends no overall harm to the students. Demons who share even a sliver of her power would stop at nothing to abuse it, to break or dominate their so called "masters". It was a brutal reality that they either had to take measure to take care of, or fall victim to.

Lucilia was worried. She knew Satori, and while Lucilia was no mind reader she had found hints of what Satori was going to do, just not of the extent. The aftermath was apparently obvious however, and Lucilia was appalled, at least eternally. She kept a stoic facade and notice Tyrael using his magic. She saw the knife and quickly put two-and-two together, knowing that Tyrael had spotted the assassin and was going to kill him. Lucilia flicked a seed at his hand, using a plant that fed off of Archanite. If Tyrael really wanted to he could still use his magic, but he would notice that Lucilia was trying to stop him. He canceled his spell as many students began to walk out. "Oh my..." This was why she wanted everyone's demonstration just to be used to serve the meals. It worked rather well a few years ago. Uicle asked her or Satori to try to pacify the students, but Lucilia knew that Satori wouldn't do it. Satori would not fix what she doesn't think is broken, and she thinks that what she did was entirely okay. Lucilia at least predicted that emotions might run high during the event (Not for this reason however) and had some plants on the ceiling prepared. They released an invisible pollen that would calm the students down, giving them a sort of relaxing high. Some would be affected faster than others, but so long as they stayed within the dinning hall it was sure to work. But those who left... Well, she'd have to find a different way to deal with them. "Uicle, I think now would be a good time to finish up the demonstrations."

Annabeth Gultch

Awe, shock, and fear was what went through Annabeth at that time. She demonstrations from the teachers were wonderful to observe, and while some gave her a jump, she enjoyed them. Even the demonmancer's attack was entertaining to see once she noticed that the demons were not attacking the students. It was horrific in a sense, but entertaining. Than came the nightmares. Annabeth had lifted her cup, and once her nightmare was over her cup fell and spilled all over her. Annabeth was frozen in shock. Soon her body began to tremble, before she curled over the table with her arms over her head. She began to sweat madly from her nightmare, and she only found comfort from drawing her dagger, stabbing it into the table. Repeatedly. When Lucilia's pollens were spread, she began to calm down, but now she just felt numb. She stood up, dagger still in hand, and walked around aimlessly. Annabeth didn't know what she was doing, or why she was walking around. She just... Was. Her steps were shuffled and she had an empty look in her eyes, still full of fear, but at the same time, without consciousness.

[WitchChild]

Haklo Desol had been keeping his eyes on Satori when he then thought about Annabeth and turned to look at her. He saw her sweating and stabbing the table and seemingly in shock. He stood up and approached her carefully. He did not want his shirt resemble the tablecloth. He didn't notice when the pollen hit him but he staretd to feel a bit lightheaded but was still fully aware. He watched as Annabeth seemed to calm down and began to walk around. Haklo turned his head left and right, observing others before approaching the girl and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Easy now" He said and his other hand went to wrist and slid down to her hand to slowly take the dagger away from her before she harmed others and / or herself. "No need for that" he said as he took the blade flat of the blade with his thumb and the of his fingers. He'd return the dagger when she'd be back to something less distraught.

He deduced that she was also hit by the psychic attack from Satori. He still had his hand on her shoulder, ready for any violent action from her.

[Sundered Echo]

Khan had finished downing the rest of his medicine after his concern about Rathel’s absence was finally quelled and satisfied. The last dose tasted as terrible as those previous two. The taste changed very little by the Dwarf ale when Tyrael’s demonstration approached. The headmaster’s face reflected his dislike when he finished off the last of the horrid mess and started to feel the effects drift over him. Slowly his sluggish mind had started to adjust and to overcome the mild effect, his hand no longer hurt and even slightly nulled him to the scene about to erupt. He wasn’t surprised at strength of Sam’s herbs, his own personal reason to avoid it from the start had its own merits bite him in the tail.

It was too late now and even if he wanted to escape it, Uicle and Lucilia had proven they’d not allow him. His eyes flickered about the Demonomancer’s demonstration while it played out, fully knew the secret behind it all and remained cold to the staff that was being ‘torn’ apart right in front of him. It was all theatrics brought on by Tyrael’s own familiars and demons, dowsed over in the scene shift most Demonomancers had. It was a simple illusion in a way, enhanced by the environmental effect. For Khan, it was a small scale one that even he could perform but only on a less impressive level. His blank expression became worried when some of the students had taken to assaulting the very actors themselves. In the back of his mind, Khan idled over spoiling the truth about Tyrael’s demo yet he kept quiet. Last thing he needed to do was disrespect the teacher among the students and hinder the fallen Orc’s authority in the long run. At Tyrael’s turn’s end Lucilia mopped up the demons, using unnecessary force, then returned the room to its former state. Khan felt Rathel flinch slightly when a table sprouted roots then smashed in a Demon’s head but his demon said little. Instead Rathel stood in silence to witness the scene draw to a close at Khan’s side.

Khan for the most part had suspected the worst was over. Seemed he was incorrect and would pay dearly for it. Like the students, he too raised his glass in toast. Sadly, the medicine had hazed over his judgment and shortly after the psychomancy teacher’s toast the room spiraled into chaos again. Some of the students had reacted badly to something. Their expressions set in horror and fixed in pain, something that caused Khan some alarm. Val, Lidda and many of the other teachers sprang into action for their duties to aid those crippled and bring to serious reactions. However the damage was already done. Khan’s head turned to face Satori, his eyes slightly hardened as she finished her toast, seemingly to release her spell over them. He hadn’t made a requirement to check with him on each demo and sorely regretted it now, a mistake he didn’t aim to make again.

“I agree with Uicle, Satori. After the Feast, I would like a word with you in my office after Dinner...” Khan agreed with Uicle’s suggestion, his voice calm yet it didn’t take a Psychomancer to determine his current mood was upset by recent events. It didn’t help Sam’s medicine had started to affect him and only frustrated the Headmaster to higher degree.

Khan’s eyes flickered to the blade that now came to Uicle’s hand, hilt first, like eager pup. Likely one of many to be assassination attempts on Satori’s life after this night and something else Khan would have to deal with, much to his soured mood. Though he could request Val to determine the owner, the headmaster felt it won’t be needed as it seemed a natural reaction to such a violent event. He didn’t like the thoughts twisting in his head; the idea this night would traumatize many students into leaving or thinking twice about their current choices to learn, knowing that Twilight College wasn’t the only option but the only neutral one. At Uice’s mention about this demonstration and how it would be brief, Khan nodded.

“I’m sorry Uicle, truly as I should’ve had all the teachers check with me over their demonstrations before I let this happened.” Khan began to apologize to the Necromancer teacher, “Now I wished I had waited until after the feast to take my medicine, it would’ve made damage control easier with a clear head. I fully intent on sending the Students to bed sho-

His eyes jerked up in time to see a student draw too close for comfort. The way she moved, her steps ate away at the distance between her and Satori in a natural way yet the Headmaster seriously doubted it was going to be a pleasant thank you for the demonstration. His suspicions confirmed when the flash of steel and the Wood Elf made to leap, ready to take the psychomancy teacher’s life! He didn’t blame her but he couldn’t allow it. Mainly since it was the Elf’s safety he worried more for then Satori’s. What the Student failed to realize was if provoked, Satori could’ve left her nothing more than a mental vegetable and even worse for it to be justified as self-defense. Khan didn’t have time to react but thankfully he didn’t need to.

Rathel was quicker and had been watching her long before Khan had. The demon had stomped his hands into the ground, his mind focused upon the nearest table, and soon it had grown roots that latched upon the young student. They started off thin in their race up her leg; the roots twisted and snaked up the side. They entangled her, her struggles forced them to thicken and react until finally they stopped her completely in her tracks. In and out, they interlocked to focus most at her dagger hand where it created a thick and useless glove.

“I would suggest you calm down, Ms. Wood Elf, while we sort out what has happened. This was something… unauthorized by the Headmaster, I assure you, but we can’t allow blood to be drawn within the College.” Rathel tried to say in a soft voice.

Auriels gaze flicked about to the plant-demon the moment he started talking to her, her eyes narrowing into a glare. The look was short lived as she quickly turned her attention back to Satori, relaxing slightly now that she was immobile. Her grip on the dagger loosened and with it she felt the roots that restrained her held her far less tightly. The moment she thought she could break free of the wooden restraints she tensed again and pushed up from the floor towards Satori, her knuckles white on the dagger's hilt. Brute strength, however, was not one of Auriels virtues, and there was no way to twist from the roots entirely before they once again had her totally ensnared. When she looked around again, she realised she’d made it all of half a meter closer, and she doubted the master of her bonds would fall for that trick again.

Still she twisted and turned within the roots trying to escape, but it was no use. When it was blindingly obvious she wouldn’t escape on her own terms, she stopped and turned to glare at the Headmaster. “I’d rather get stabbed than remember her little demo!” Her voice was elevated and filled with anger, but it wasn’t wild. Bloodshed might not be allowed in the college, but even being on the receiving end was more pleasant than living your worst waking nightmare.

Rathel wasn’t stupid or he would’ve been a dead demon long ago. His many years within the inferno, a life and death struggle that made him powerful had taught him never to completely trust appearances. His suspicions were right when the Wood Elf from Xeric’s demonstration, had begun to relax, his magic loosened only to tighten again when she aimed to begin her assault once more. This time the vine and root became unyielding in their bonding even when she ceased. This time, she was suspended within the air by the thick tree branches, unable to touch the floor or get footing to aid her struggles.

The Headmaster didn’t flinch or react at first from the student’s glare. The Headmaster barely registered Uicle’s request of Lucilia and Satori, his mind centered on the Elf who had earlier starred alongside a teacher and earlier dared to provoke Zaad all within one night. He personally he believed he deserved it after allowing this to happen and breaking the students’ trust. Her anger and rage was clear in her tone causing to Khan raised upright, his hand shifted to grip the table edge when the dizziness hit him full on and threatened to topple him in his rush. He wasn’t sure how, but he managed to stay standing while he moved slowly around the table.

“Khan…” Rathel’s voice had caution against the Demonomancer’s action, his focus still maintained upon the transformed tables and wooden items to contain the Elf.

“I’m fine Rathel it’s just the medicine kicking in. I shouldn’t have taken it during the Feast, despite Sam’s stubbornness, and none of this would’ve happened.”

After he rounded the table, the Esyire brought his form to stand before Auriel. His voice was steadier than his wobbling form as he spoke, “I wish that was the worst she could do to you, truly, but it’s not. She only gave you a taste of it. Not everyone uses their magic responsibly, something I’m gravely disappointed to see Satori do in the worse way. However, killing her won’t undo what’s been done. You’ll still have whatever experience she gave you and that fact won’t change, even with spilling either of your blood.”

“Oh I know it won't make me forget. I’ve been down that road before. It will make me feel better though!” She knew she was thoroughly beaten here. Revenge would have to wait. Maybe she’d just have to forget about it for a while. She put on an exaggerated look of exasperation and flipped the dagger round in her hand to a normal grip. “Fine, plant man. You win.” With that she dropped the dagger. Then she turned back to the headmaster “Just keep your damned Psychomancer Bitch on Leash!”

Despite what the student believed, Khan truly sympathized with her thinking but couldn’t allow it. He watched her flip the dagger about into a less threatening manner and submit to their decision, dropping the dagger. It fell loudly upon the floor where it stayed as she turned to Khan, warning him to keep his staff in line. Naturally that was what Khan intended to do from this day forward, not even allowing the teacher to teach her own psychomancy warden classes in a faint hope it would encourage student hurt by this experience to seek a way to defend against it. Other measures were Val and her student’s rune classes which would only seal implanted memories or control, still giving Satori the ability to acknowledge possible threats. It was counter productive to eliminate all possible ways to be notified about the likely threats on her life now.

“I’ll assure you, I will do everything in my power to keep this from happening again. Even if I have to talk to the Archmage Ovak Regdar him-

Khan’s eyes widened when a voice entered his head, one currently on Khan’s shit list. His face immediately turned up into a frown upon recognizing the owner. He listened quietly while it spoke in favor of releasing the Wood Elf and letting her kill the teacher. ‘Come on Boss, just let Dollface try to kill the Psychomancy teacher.”

The Headmaster’s voice growled a bit in his reply, outloud as he didn’t care how crazy he looked from seemingly talking to himself. “And why, Zaad, do you think it’s a good idea to allow her to kill Satori? Why the concern and desire for bloodshed to happen within these walls?”

Zaad was silent, but Khan could feel the pleasure and mirth behind it. The demon had his reasons for wanting this to happen yet Khan didn’t know why, something that didn’t settle well when dealing with Zaad. Again, Khan’s voice spoke with a little more authority. “Zaad, what would you gain from her killing Satori?”

Finally the demon smugly answered. ‘I would win.”

This time it was Rathel’s, who had been listening into the conversation, turn to speak up. His voice indicated he didn’t find Zaad’s answer satisfactory either and their current relationship certainly wasn’t friendly. “Win, what do you mean by ‘I would win’?”

Zaad merely chuckled within both Khan’s and Rathel’s heads, the later turned to Auriel for answers. “Ms. Wood Elf, you won’t happen to know what he means by that would you?”

Auriel looked on in confusion and then amusement as the headmaster ‘chatted’ with Zaad. This was just getting better and better. “Can you let me down first? This is ridiculous.” The roots were a little looser now that she’d dropped her weapon, but she was still being held above the ground in a rather awkward position.

Rathel blinked then nodded, his hands dug into the ground as the roots released and flowed back into the items they once been. He politely warned the student. “Keep in mind, I sense or even suspect you going on the attack, I won’t release this time.”

Auriel was happy to be back on the floor and in control, though she didn’t show it. “Thanks.” She said half sarcastically to the plant-man demon thing. “I don’t know what that crazy dust ball is on about. Probably thinks I can’t handle it.” She looked quickly around for him. He wasn’t there, just like she’d thought. “I can by the way you dustball!” She said loudly, hoping he’d hear from whichever plane of the inferno he was presently ‘gracing’ with his presence.

With that, she bent down and retrieved her dagger, keeping her eyes locked on the plant-man the whole time, and too forcefully sheathed it again. “Anything else you want from me?” She said expectantly to the Headmaster.

“Currently?” Khan began as his curiosity was filled. “Nothing other than try not to hurt others or yourself. I can’t allow someone who has killed to remain on College grounds, namely within them. Some mages forget that magic can be as wonderful as it can be harmful, a lesson I’ve learnt myself in the worse way.”

Khan’s eyes seemed to haze over for a moment only to be jerked back into the present, his face still fixed upon the woman. “Also, Zaad can’t hear you no matter how loudly you shout. It’s one of the many…perks of binding him in the way I did. It’s not a pleasant thing having five completely different minds in your head at all times after all.”

“Yeah whatever” Auriels response to the comments on having multiple minds was dismissive and uncaring. “You sure you want me to stay then? I don’t carry these weapons for show.” Auriel had stopped counting the people she’d killed on the job quite some time ago. Merchants didn’t usually ask for their attackers to be spared.

“You’re not the worse to have walked through those doors.” The Headmaster said and added. “We don’t turn people away because of their past, merely their present actions within the School. Since you’ve not drawn blood here, I needn’t worry you will just kill someone else because they’ve angered you.”

He started to slowly make his way back to his seat, his voice still speaking clearly and showing little evidence on his feelings towards the subject. “I doubt anyone that has weaponry here has it for show. And while we aim to provide a safe and comforting environment, it’s more difficult than it sounds. In addition to that, the College provides services to most of Tiien and in those missions and tasks you are able to apply what you’ve learned within these walls. It will show you what you can do with your magic, both good and terrible. Most have determined through these tasks if they truly want to be mages or let the magic fade from them.”

“Nice to know I’m welcome here.” She said with a half sarcastic slightly skeptical voice. “I’ll try not kill anyone unless they try to kill me first.” Auriel was genuinely happy that they wouldn’t hold her many past killings, both on the job and otherwise, against her. “So you guys do missions aye? Do we get paid? I mean the travel and the magic learning is nice, but there is nothing like a bag of gold.” And the chance for untold mischief, she added in her head. She was getting eager to get away from here though. Her demonstration was over and being around Satori without ripping her throat our was not easy. She was not the most adept at hiding her emotions and it was probably showing.

“The choice to believe my words is yours, nothing I can say or do can convince you differently. Though I believe actions are strong way to show it.” Khan answered her while he moved away from Satori, her seat at the far end of the table and in the opposite direction he treaded. A secret relief in his own opinion as he wasn’t sure what he would’ve done if he had to bypass the teacher along the way. Rathel, who notice Khan’s difficulty in walking became too obvious, had started to pull in closer to the Esyire. The larger demon pressed his form against the Demonomacer, his body separated the Headmaster from his continual scrapping over the table edge and aided him along. However Rathel had only manage to keep his Demonomancer upright, the balance was still difficult to keep while they painfully made their way towards Khan’s seat.

Khan’s words still resumed to talk to the Wood Elf, farther explained the College’s system in hopes to keep her attention and prevent her from returning back to the first task. “You would receive a small percent of it though most goes to the College as it help to keep it running. Otherwise, we have to take funding from the students monthly or a large sum yearly and another percent from each mission since we established the job in the first place. It’s not cheap keeping this place running on pure charity or donations. There are perks: free room and board, meals and a place defended from monsters in the surrounding areas.”

“Sounds alright to me I guess. You know you don’t look so great. You sure she didn’t get to you too?” Auriel said with a quick, sharp gesture towards Satori. She really didn’t want to be there right now though, and while sleeping was probably out of the picture with her brand new set of unpleasant memories, getting away from the dining hall certainly was. “Actually, nevermind. I’m getting out of here. Have fun with the crowd.” She said before he could reply turning away and stepping off the teachers stage. It was only once she was in the crowd again that she realised her words were ambiguous concerning whether she was simply leaving the hall or the college. Maybe Zaad would be surprised to see her again the next day. She laughed quietly to herself at that little irony.

Rathel merely chuckled as the Wood Elf was already on her way out, he knew it wasn’t Satori’s doing because it was an old healer named Sam getting even for Khan’s stubbornness. A fact the demon found rather funny in a light hearted way while he clumsily guided Khan to his seat. The effects would lessen later as he just finished taking the last dose not long ago and the fact this current, brash event would be one Khan refuse to allow to shimmer over, the Headmaster’s night was likely to be a long one.

“Sam’s meds knocked you on your ass, Khan. Likely best you not stand while Uicle finishes his demonstration and we send the Students to their rooms. Some might be unaffected but others seemed to have taken this to heart. I only hope the damage is minimized or there might be funeral before long, the only question I have is simple: whose corpse will I be burying, Satori’s or a student’s?”

Khan’s hand merely came up to shoulder his head, his face hidden from sight and likely mulling over his unsavory task later this evening.